


Wayward Child

by DeansLady



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Gen, Profanity - Mild and Strong, Protective Dean Winchester, Winchester Sister
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2018-08-27 16:10:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 51,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8408128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeansLady/pseuds/DeansLady
Summary: Abigail Grace Campbell grew up hunting for things that go bump in the night. She knew no other life. She was a hunter from a family of hunters. A box of old photographs and a hunting trip gone badly leaves Abbi reeling and bent on vengeance. She hunted up and down the west coast on her own, she is determined to seek retribution by wreaking vengeance on all who cross her path. Her one rule, she never hunted east of the Rockies.Demons, vampires, werewolves…it doesn’t matter to her. They are just fuel for the fire burning in her gut. What happens when she meets a couple of fellow hunters named Sam and Dean Winchester is a disaster waiting to happen. Can Abbi keep her secrets from them? Does she really want to?





	1. Nest Clearing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story came from a meme I saw on Facebook that created a 'What if' situation for my muse. 
> 
> This story begins just after episode 17 of season 9 and will go on from there.
> 
> Additional Warnings:  
> Normal Hunter Violence  
> Profanity - some chapters will be stronger than others.

It never ceased to amaze her how humans could ignore what was right in front of their faces. Abbi looked around at the run down house with disdain. ‘Of course,’ she thought, ‘it was out-of-town on a rarely used old highway.’

Abbi opened the door of her ’67 Mustang convertible and got out. She slowly closed the door as not to make any sound even though she was parked a fair distance away. The trunk opened without a sound and she lifted what looked like the floor of the trunk. In reality, it was just a covering over the hidden compartment added to the trunk by her father—

‘No, don’t go there,’ she thought.

‘Why not?’ The other part of her brain argued. ‘Fuel for the fire,’ it said to her.

‘Because anger will get us killed,’ she fought back. She hated that her brain didn’t function like normal humans. She had two warring sides of her personality and the voices in her head always were the loudest just before a hunt. Logic or anger, never an in-between.

Abbi grabbed a long knife and stuck it in the waist of her jeans against the small of her back. It was a wide, sixteen-inch single-edged blade made of steel, and held with a grip wrapped with brown leather. No markings, no decorations, and no engravings. This weapon is meant for only one thing, decorations didn't make you fight better. Next, she grabbed a dual-edged, razor-sharp knife, the blade engraved with artistically crafted words that supposedly contained a hidden power. She slid it easily into the hidden sheath up the left sleeve of her jacket.

Abbi loaded the old Smith and Wesson with the clip she had prepared before she left her motel room in town. The gun’s average weight made it very easy to handle. Its wood handle was worn smooth by the hands of her father and steadied any nerves she may have felt. She knew the gun brought a good amount of firepower with excellent accuracy. Abbi shoved a spare clip in her pocket, though she doubted she would get the chance to use it. The last thing she grabbed before gently closing the trunk was her long machete. This simple knife was her second one. The other one, well, she wouldn’t think about what happened to that one now.

“Take care of your weapons, Abbi girl,” her father preached, “and they will take care of you.” These words were ingrained in her from the time she had been given her first knife. The very same one that was resting now comfortably against her arm.

Gun in her left hand and the machete in right; she darted across the road and disappeared into the tree line. In the half hour, she sat in her car, there had been only one car, a black ’67 Chevy Impala, to go by in the opposite direction she had her car pointed. 

She stayed in the trees until they thinned out, at which point Abbi had no choice but to cross the overgrown yard. She did this as quickly as she could while crouched down. The windows on the abandoned house were all boarded up. She hoped her targets weren’t all sleeping in one room. That could get a bit rough. It would be better if they were upstairs in different bedrooms. Abbi could go into each bedroom and if her luck held, wipe out the nest before any of them knew what was happening.

Standing on her tippy-toes, she could just see in through the crack of the boards in the largest window on the side of the house toward the front. The room, which seemed to be a living room, was empty. She checked each window on the side of the house as she passed and each room was just as empty.

‘This could be bad, or it could be good,’ Abbi thought. ‘Bad because it means I don’t know where they are—good because I can most likely get in without being discovered. Bad if they are in the basement together—good if they are in the upstairs bedrooms.’

She stepped very carefully on each step as she walked up them to the porch. A broken ankle or leg from crashing through a rotten board was not something that she wanted to happen. Abbi was as cautious with her footing as she walked across the porch. This was when she was grateful for her compact body. Abbi was only five foot six and looked thin, but her muscles were strong and toned.

There was no screen door for which she was thankful. With the precision and ease of long practice, Abbi unlocked the door and slipped inside leaving the door ajar. ‘Never close off your escape route, Abbi girl,’ her father had preached. ‘Have two if you can.’

Her sneaker-clad feet were silent as she, bit by bit, inched her way across the kitchen and peeked into the dining room. Both sides of her mind were in sync now that the hunt was on. Finding it empty, she made her way methodically through the entire downstairs, room by room. Abbi was prepared at any moment to find a vamp in any room. The only light filtered in through the cracks between the wood slats used to board up the windows. She opened the front door and left that ajar as well before she headed upstairs.

Her steps were slow and guarded as she approached the landing on the second floor. She could see four doors off the hallway. She had to assume all were occupied as Abbi knew there were, at last count, seven vampires in this nest…four males and three females.

She’d faced worse odds and had no qualms now. Nerves had no place in a hunter’s toolbox. Nerves made you hesitate. You hesitate and you die. Plain and simple. Hadn’t she learned that the hard way?

Her breathing deepened and slowed. The calm of the hunt came over her. She approached the first door and silently opened it, praying to whatever gods protected hunters that it wouldn’t squeak. Even if she had survived worse odds, she wasn’t stupid enough to think it would be easy if she had to take on all seven at once. Abbi had no doubt she would survive, but why have to work so hard?

A male and female vampire slept on the bed in front of her. She would have to be quick. She crept soundless across to the male and cleanly sliced his head off. Before the female’s mind could even register what had happened, Abbi had severed the same appendage from her body. Quick, quiet, and efficient. That was the way she had been taught.

Abbi cleared the second bedroom of another male and female before it all went to hell. The next door she opened creaked just enough to stir the occupants and, at the same time, there was a noise on the stairs. She froze where she was hoping no one actually woke.

The door behind her flew open and the last male charged into her before she could react. He pinned her against the door frame. A hand closed around her throat cutting off her air. Her knife fell out of her hand and clattered to the floor. The noise woke the couple on the bed.

More out of reflex than anything else, Abbi fired her gun at the couple on the bed. She needed to disable them, at least temporarily, while she dealt with the immediate threat. From the sounds coming from the bed, her bullets hit both of their targets.

She was just pulling her gun around to fire into her attacker’s stomach when his head left his body. Finding herself suddenly free of restraint, she didn’t hesitate. Abbi shoved her gun into her pocket and drew out her knife from the small of her back as she raced across the room.

She knew her bullets would only incapacitate the couple for a very short time. Her swing was true and the male vampire’s head was removed from his body at the same time as the female’s parted with hers.

It was only then that she looked at who had come into the room. Two men stood there, each holding a machete dripping in blood.

“Thanks,” she said grudgingly. “But, you know, I had it under control.”

“Yeah, it looked like it,” said the shorter of the two. “Hand around your throat, pinned against the doorway with a vamp ready to rip your throat out.” His voice held a note of superiority that put Abbi on the defensive.

“For your information,” she began as she walked across the room to retrieve her own machete, “I’d already killed four when you showed up and would’ve had no problem with the rest of them. That is _if_ you hadn’t been so damn noisy coming up the stairs.”

She saw the look that passed between the two men. Abbi often ran into hunters with the attitude that a woman should not be out hunting alone. They never considered that she may just be faster and smarter than they were. The fact she was smaller in stature made them think of her as too weak to be out on her own. Well, Abbi had hunted all her life and had been on her own for almost a year. Even before her parents were killed, she often went out on hunts close to home by herself. If her parents trusted her, that was good enough for her.

The taller of the two seemed to understand why she was upset. “Four, huh? Good job,” he said. “Saw you take those shots, you only glanced once and fired. What the hell was in those bullets anyway? Never seen a bullet take down a vamp before,” he said, his voice conveying genuine curiosity and sincerity.

Abbi smiled as she patted her pocket where her gun was tucked safely inside. “Hollow points with dead man’s blood in them. Guaranteed to take them down long enough to rid them of their heads.” She said the last sentence in a deep southern accent. “For times I can carry my shotgun, I got some shotgun shells I can fill with it. They will take them down longer.”

Both men looked stunned and very interested. “I’m Sam, by the way, Sam Winchester,” the taller one said. “That’s my brother Dean.”

“Abigail Camb—Caplan, but everyone calls me Abbi,” she said. She had to get out of here. These were the two hunters in the whole world she never wanted to meet and now they were standing right in front of her.

Had they noticed the stumble over her last name? Abbi hoped not. She should have been better prepared for this moment. Damn, why did she come so far east? Abbi made it a rule never to hunt east of the Rockies because she knew they mostly hunted in the middle of the country. But this nest was too good to pass up so she had taken a chance. Obvious to her now was the fact they would have heard the same rumors she had and shown up here.

“Look, it’s been real and all that, but I gotta run,” she said as she edged out the door. “Since you almost got me killed, I’ll leave the cleanup for you.” She moved as quick as she dared without it seeming like she was running away from them. Leaving them with the cleanup should keep them busy long enough for her to drive back into town, clear out of the motel and get the hell out of Dodge.

“What the hell was that all about?” Dean asked as he watched Abbi rush down the stairs while trying to make it look like she wasn’t.

“I don’t know, but did you catch the hesitation over her last name? Something’s going on with her.” Sammy looked at the bodies lying on the bed.

“Burn it?” Dean looked hopeful that they wouldn’t be tied up here for hours doing the cleanup.

“I doubt she touched anything but the doorknobs and we didn’t even touch those. I say we clean the prints and head back to the motel.” Sam stepped carefully over the body of the vampire on the floor. “There’s only one motel in town. She has to be staying there. I say we head back and try to catch up with her to find out what her story is.”

“No cleanup? I’m all for that. Let’s go,” Dean said, smiling.


	2. Explanations

The drive back into town seemed to take forever. Abbi had the top down and the wind pulled at the ponytail she had pulled her long blond hair into this morning. She pushed the speed limit until she reached the edge of town. It wouldn’t do for her to get a stopped by the cops now. She hadn’t realized it until she got into the car, but she had managed to get blood all over her shirt and jeans. Or rather, Dean had managed to get blood all over her.

Abbi slammed her car door when she got out even as she pulled her room key out of her pants pocket. Glad she hadn’t unpacked, as now she wouldn’t have to spend any time repacking, she pulled out a change of clothes and walked toward the bathroom. The giant mirror over the vanity outside the bathroom door showed her that she would not get away with a quick change of clothing. Not only was her shirt and jeans covered in blood, but her hair was too. Nothing short of a shower would do.

Growling, she threw her clothes on the vanity, and returned to her overnight case to grab her shampoo and conditioner. Abbi headed back to the bathroom and a quick shower. She needed to get out of here as quick as possible and this was slowing her down.

Abbi didn’t hear the knock on the door, nor did she hear the lock being as expertly picked as if she had done it herself.

Sam and Dean quietly let themselves into Abbi’s room. Hearing the shower running, they knew they had only a very short time to look around. Sam took the dressers while Dean went over to her overnight bag.

“What the hell?” Dean said as he pulled out a small stack of old photographs.

“I believe they are called pictures.” Abbi’s tone was stern and angry. She marched over to him, intending to rip them out of his hands. He held them above her head and since he was taller than she was, and had a longer reach, Abbi couldn’t get them.

“I know damn right well _what_ they are. What I want to know is why in the hell you have pictures of me and our parents.” His voice met hers with anger as he indicated himself and Sam. 

It was times like this that Abbi was grateful for the abnormality in her brain that allowed her to have two conversations in her head at once. She was able to rapidly go through her reasons for having those pictures. Of course, half her brain argued for the truth and the other half argued for the truth as she knew it until eighteen months ago.

“Look, there is a very good reason I have them,” she assured him. “Just let me get some clothes on and I’ll tell you, k?” A quick glance told her he hadn’t found the photo at the bottom or the papers hidden in the side.

“Damn straight you’re going to tell us,” Dean countered as he turned to hand Sam the pictures. “You have five minutes and don’t even think about going out the bathroom window. You won’t get very far.” The tone of his voice told her he wasn’t threatening her, his words were a promise that he would stop her.

Without comment, she grabbed her bag and turned back toward the tiny bathroom. She scooped up her clothes from the vanity on her way in. Abbi only glanced quickly at the window in the bathroom, noting as she did that while it was small, she could have squeezed through it. She had no doubt, Dean would make good on his words and she wouldn’t get very far if she went out the window. Besides, she didn’t even have her keys and she wasn’t leaving her car behind.

While she dressed, she let her brain fight over the best course of action.

‘Tell them the truth.’ That was her first thought which was quickly argued by the less rational side.

‘No way. They don’t need to know. Just stick to the cousin thing. They can’t prove any different. Campbells are hunters, you are a Campbell through and through.’

‘I don’t think I can lie to Sam. There’s something…’

‘Lie to Dean. Don’t look at Sam then.’ Her irrational side was getting more persistent.

‘I think I should tell them the truth. After all, I have enough else I am hiding.’

‘Which is why you shouldn’t tell them the truth. They aren’t going to be like, “Yay! We have a sister! Oh, and it is okay that you go off on your own hunting. Bye!” Don’t be stupid. It was stupid enough of you to come here. Wyoming? This is their territory, you should have known better. Or maybe you were hoping for this.’ The sly accusing tone of what Abbi referred to as the trouble making side of her brain set her teeth on edge.

‘Either way, they are not going to want to let me go. It doesn’t much matter which story I give them. I’m going to have to slip away when they aren’t looking. And I had to come here. I had to chance it.’

The banging on the door had her switching off the argument in her head. “Hurry up in there.” Dean’s voice came through the door as if it wasn’t even there.

“Be right out,” she answered him. She knew if she didn’t acknowledge him, he would probably break the door down.

When she came out of the bathroom, the first thing she noticed was that both brothers stood leaning against the dresser, a united front. They looked like Greek Gods standing there. If they weren’t…but they were. Abbi sat down on the bed, not looking at either of them. She drew out the moment she had to decide on what to tell them by digging through her overnight bag for her brush.

The argument in the bathroom had solved nothing. Abbi still didn’t know what to do. What was right? If only she could talk to her mom.  

Sitting on the bed, she began to brush her hair, ignoring the glares from Dean. He would be the tough one, she knew. Sam…she wasn’t sure about him. How was he going to react if she told the real reason she had those pictures? Right now, he looked serious, but not angry like Dean.

“Well?” Dean’s voice broke the silence.

She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Her brain was still battling on which way to go with this. “Let’s start with the easy part,” she said. “My name isn’t Abigail Caplan—”

 “Duh,” Dean scoffed.

 “Dean, let her finish,” Sam countered.

“Look, this is hard enough, okay? I planned on being in and out before anyone even knew I was here. So, just let me finish.” Abbi snapped back at Dean. “My name is Abigail Grace…Campbell.” Why she had included her middle name she had no idea, except maybe to draw out the time for a few seconds before she said her last name.  

Dean’s face hardened. “Campbell? As in related to Samuel Campbell?”

“He was my father’s brother,” she said quietly. In this, she wasn’t lying, no matter which story she told. “I didn’t really know him, though.” She rushed to explain as both brothers had tensed when she said she was related to Samuel. “My father argued with him when he was a teenager and was disowned. He moved to California…I don’t think they ever talked again.”

“Your father?” Sam asked gently as if sensing her pain.

“Dead, both of my parents were killed when we were cleaning out a vamp nest nine months ago,” she replied. She was proud of herself that the only reaction she showed to saying those words was the soft tone of her voice.

“I’m sorry,” Sam said.

His simple words almost broke her. Abbi knew he meant it. She knew that their father had been killed by a demon. They had also lost the closest thing they had to a second father a couple of years ago. “Yeah, well, the life of a hunter and all that, right?” Her voice was bitter.

“That doesn’t explain these pictures,” Dean said. His voice still held anger but was beginning to soften. “If your family didn’t have contact with the Campbells, how did you get these photos?”

“My mom and your mom were friends. They stayed in touch even after my parents moved to California. In fact, they visited her about six months before she died.” Abbi knew she was getting into the part of her story where she had to take one path or the other. So far, she was sticking to the easy road.

“That would have been about the time Sammy was born,” Dean answered, his interest clear on his face. “Why don’t I remember you? Or your parents?”

“Only my mom visited and she only went to the hospital. She never saw you or your dad,” Abbi countered.

She dug through her overnight bag to the very bottom her decision made. She pulled out a very tattered photo in a small acrylic frame. After running her hands over it, she stood and moved slowly over to the brothers. She held the photo close to her heart for a brief moment before handing it to Sam. He had to be the first who saw the truth.

“This is the _only_ photo I have of my mother holding me as a baby,” she explained as Sam took the framed photo. “Carol Campbell took me from the hospital minutes after this was taken and I became her daughter.”

She turned and walked back to sit on the edge of the bed by her bag. Abbi had a feeling she would need the rest of what was hidden in there.

The brothers looked down at the photo of Mary holding a tiny baby wrapped in a pink blanket. There were tears visible on Mary’s face as she looked down on the daughter that she would never see again.

“I was born on May 2nd, 1983. My biological parents were John and Mary Winchester, but I was raised by Bruce and Carol Campbell. My birth was never known to my biological father. I didn’t know any of this until I found these pictures about eighteen months ago, and confronted my parents.”

She watched them as shock and disbelief crossed both brothers’ faces. She waited, knowing the questions would come fast and furious. That is, once the initial shock wore off.

“What kind of a trick is this?” Dean shouted. “Listen, I don’t know what kind of game you are playing—”

Abbi reached into the side pocket of her bag, and into the hidden compartment in there. She pulled out a yellowed envelope. She opened it and pulled out letters and some legal papers. “Here is my original birth certificate. I also have my adoption papers and letters from your mother, which some of those photographs came with.” She held out the papers but neither brother moved.

“You’re my twin?” Sam questioned. His soft inquiry the complete opposite of Dean’s distrustful tone.

“Yeah, but if it makes you feel any better, my mom told me that you were born first, so you are older than me.” She gave him a small smile hoping against hope his question meant his doubts at least were lessening.

“No way in hell!” Dean exploded. “Mom wouldn’t have done something like…like…that!”

“Like what? Keep such a secret? Give her kid away?” Abbi yelled back. “Believe me, I couldn’t understand it myself for a long time. How could any mother just give one of her kids away and why did she give me away? Why not Sam?” Abbi jumped up from the bed. She began to pace the room. She rarely lost her temper, but when she did, it was a sight to behold.

“Why me? I asked my mom. I asked and asked and she would only say that some things were better left unknown. I kept asking and one day, one horrible day, she finally told me. She told me the reason I was given away.” Abbi looked at Sam. “I’m sorry, but what she told me…let’s just say she was right, I was better off not knowing.”

“Why?” Sam asked. His voice was flat, his question all the more powerful for the lack of any emotion.

She stopped her pacing in front of the brothers. “Sam, please…” Abbi pleaded with him. She had only just met him, but the pull between them was so strong. She knew she couldn’t deny him anything. “Please don’t ask me.”

“Tell me,” he said simply looking down into her eyes.

Her voice was so quiet that if they had not been standing directly in front of her, they would never have heard her whispered words. “Because she made a deal with a demon.”


	3. Keeping Quiet

The words had tumbled from Abbi’s lips before her brain had caught up enough to try to stop her. She had never intended to utter those words ever again. Now there would be questions, questions she didn’t want to be asked and she definitely did not want to answer.

“How in the hell would you know about that?” Dean’s voice was sharp. He grabbed her arms and pulled her to face him.

“My mom told me. Your mom had told her,” Abbi said. All this “my mom, your mom” stuff was giving her a headache. Part of her just wanted to scream that Mary was her mother, too. But hadn’t she had a mother? A mother who raised her, who was named Carol. What right did she have to claim Mary as her mother? Because the woman in the photograph cried while holding her? Because she _thought_ by giving her away she was protecting her? If only she knew.

“Dean, what is she talking about?” Sam asked. “What deal?”

“She doesn’t know what she is talking about, Sammy.” Dean’s voice was even though the anger that simmered just underneath could still be heard.

“Yes, I do,” Abbi said. “And I am sorry if it hurts you. I know what happened the night your grandparents died. I know because my mom flew home to be with yours after it happened.”

“Well, whatever your mother told you, it wasn’t the truth,” Dean said. “Listen, Sammy, she is just some crazy nut who happened to stumble on some pictures of us somewhere. I say we take them and clear out of here.”

Sam looked down into Abbi’s eyes. Abbi could sense he was trying to understand, to figure out if she was telling the truth or not. “I want to see those papers,” he said.

Abbi turned, picked them up from the bed and handed them wordlessly to Sam. As he began to go through them, Dean caught her eye and motioned for her to follow him to the end of the room away from Sam.

“Look,” he began in whispered tones, “Sammy doesn’t know anything about the demon deal Mom made. I never told him. Yeah, I know about it. Don’t ask, it is too long of a story to tell now. Let’s just say, I got my information first hand.” He glanced back at Sam. “I don’t want him to know about it either. There is no reason for him to know.”

“Look, I don’t lie, and I won’t lie to hide something that was done way before any of us were even thought of. Besides, this may sound crazy, but I don’t think I can lie to Sam, or at least, I can’t help myself from telling him whatever he wants to know. I seem to answer his questions before I think.” Abbi, too, glanced down at Sam then looked back at Dean. “I won’t say any more about it, just keep him from asking me.”

Dean nodded and walked back to where Sam was still going through the papers. He picked up the ones Sam had laid on the dresser.

“Dean, she’s not lying,” Sam said. “She is our sister.” He held out her birth certificate.

Dean took it and looked down at it. “Are you sure this is real? You know as well as I do things like this can be faked.”

“It’s real,” Sam said. He looked at Abbi like he was seeing her for the first time.

Abbi wondered what he was seeing. Was he trying to see Mary in her? Or John? She knew she looked like Mary from the photographs and from what her mother had told her. Her mother also told her that she had the soul of a Campbell when it came to hunting. A natural talent.

She looked at her brothers, really looked at them for the first time, allowing herself to say the words in her head. ‘These are my brothers.’ A smile lit up her face. She had a family again.

“You’ll come with us back to the Bunker,” Sam said. “Anything we need to talk about, we can do it there.” His voice left no room for either Dean or Abbi to argue. “I’ll ride with Abbi,” he said to Dean. “This way, she won’t get lost.”

The look Dean gave Abbi spoke volumes. Abbi just raised her eyebrows at him and smiled as if daring him to argue with Sam.

“Fine, but stay close. No stops along the way. It’s only about nine hours to the Bunker, so we can drive straight-thru.” Dean turned and walked towards the door.

“Ready?” Sam asked as he held out his hand. He dropped it once it became apparent that Abbi wasn’t going to take it.

Abbi quickly grabbed the photos and papers and shoved them into the side pocket of her bag. She rushed to the bathroom and grabbed her shampoo and conditioner. Shoving that into the bag, she grabbed the handles. She put on her coat that she had tossed on the bed when she came in. As usual, she was glad for the black leather. It didn’t show the blood that she knew must be on it from tonight’s hunting trip.

“Ready,” she said. “Good thing I always travel light.”

They all walked out of the room together. “Give me your key and I’ll check you out when I check us out,” Dean said as he held out his hand. She dropped the key she had scooped up off the dresser on her way out into his hand.

“I am under the name Louise Alcott,” she said. “Room is paid through tomorrow, so don’t let them soak you for any more money.”

Dean smiled when she gave him the fake name and the warning. He had a feeling he may just like this kid. “Hey, you got ID to go with that name?” he asked.

“Sure do,” she said and pulled out a FBI badge from inside her jacket pocket, flipping it open before continuing, “credit card, too.”

‘Yep,’ Dean thought, ‘I am definitely beginning to like this kid.’ “Wait here for me,” he said. “I want to give Abbi the directions to the Bunker, in case you fall asleep.” The last line was directed at Sam in a joking tone.

Abbi wasn’t sure how she felt about having Sam ride with her. Of course, her brain normally would be arguing about it, but the deep feeling of finally connecting with her brothers had her so confused and feeling overwhelmed. The voices inside her head were quiet and absent.

With measured steps, Abbi moved to her trunk and opened it. Her distraction was so complete that she jumped when Sam spoke next to her.

“Pretty clean for a hunter,” he commented.

Abbi recovered quickly and flashed him a grin. “You think?” She dropped her bag in and pushed it back as far as it would go. Then she slid her hand along the front of the trunk and tripped the secret button. There was a small click as the top of the hidden section popped up just a tiny bit. Laughing at Sam’s reaction, she opened the secret compartment.

“Somehow, I don’t think you are too surprised to see something like this,” she said.

“Um, no, not really,” Sam said. “Demon trap under the cover, that’s different. But, can this trunk really hold a demon? It’s a bit…small.”

“And that matters because?” Abbi asked. “Why would size matter?” Sam didn’t know he had just touched on a sensitive subject with Abbi. “Who in the hell would worry if a demon was comfortable for travel?” 

“True,” Sam answered. “Never thought of it that way.”

“So, we ready, or what?” Dean’s voice called from the front of the car. “Abbi, come here a minute so I can give you the directions.”

Abbi knew it wasn’t directions that Dean wanted to give her, but another warning about what to talk about with Sam. “Sure, no problem.”

“Look, I meant it when I said I don’t want Sam to know about the demon deal. There is no reason for him to know.” Dean said as he handed her a slip of paper.

She looked down at the paper and saw it had hastily written directions on it. “I told you, I won’t lie. I’ll do my best not to tell him. I wish I didn’t know and I don’t want to hurt him with the truth. I suffered enough for the both of us knowing it. I don’t want him blaming himself for what happened to me.” She turned to walk away but Dean grabbed her arm.

“Wait, what happened to you?” His voice was laced with concern. For the first time, Abbi felt like he may actually grow to care for her as a sister.

“It doesn’t matter. It was a long time ago and I’ve learned to live with the consequences,” she said. “I am glad it was me and not Sam. At least he got to live free of…” She shook her head as well as his restraining hand. “We better get going,” she said. “I know you said you want to drive straight thru, but maybe we could find a burger joint to stop at? I’m starving.”

Dean smiled. “I think we can do that.”

“Oh, and if they have some decent pie that would be great,” Abbi said. “I haven’t had any pie in a long time.”

“Oh no, not another one,” Sam said as he approached them.

“What?” Abbi said.

“A pie addict,” said Sam.

“And what is wrong with pie?” Abbi asked. “You got a thing against it? Dean, I’m not sure about riding with him if he has a thing against one of the main food groups.”

Dean burst out laughing. “Burgers and pie? Kid, you may just be a Winchester, after all.”


	4. Family History

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter takes place solely in Abbi’s car. It is almost completely dialogue. That being said, there will not be many dialogue tags. Put yourself in the backseat and enjoy the ride.

“Angels are real. That is the first thing you need to accept. Just as real as any other creature or monster you have hunted.”

“If you say so.” The look on Abbi’s face told Sam she didn’t really believe him.

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

“Hamlet, act one, scene five, I believe.”

Sam startled by her knowledge nodded. “Yeah. I’m impressed.”

“Why? Don’t you think a hunter reads? Books are wonderful things. I love books.”

“Wait until you see our library.” Sam chuckled. “Anyway, as I told you angels are real. We met our first one about six years ago when he brought Dean back—”

“Back from where?” Abbi’s curiosity for all things new was overriding her initial disbelief.

“Well, umm, oh hell, this is going to be a lot more complicated than I thought. Okay, there are a couple of long stories here. I would have to go back seven years to explain why Dean was where he was. Can we just table that for when we get back to the Bunker?”

“You keep talking about this _Bunker_. What the hell is that? Some sort of secret hideout?”

“You could say it is that and more. It was once home to The Men of Letters.”

“Now, I’ve heard of them. They were some secret organization, big back in the fifties, weren’t they?”

Shock showed on Sam’s face at her awareness of them. “Yeah, they were. How do you know about them?”

“I read about them in an old book of Dad’s. They were some freak group who only studied weird stuff. They didn’t like hunters much.”

“True. Guess it will surprise you to know that you are a legacy on the Winchester side. Your grandfather, Henry, was one.”

“Seriously? Wow! I wonder if that is why I love learning and research so much.”

“Never thought about it that way. It could be. So, back to what we were talking about. We met our first angel when he saved Dean. His name is Castiel.”

“First angel? So, you have met others? What are they like?” Abbi’s words came out in a rush, her eyes bright with curiosity.

“Loaded question. I don’t know quite how to answer that.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “Cas is okay, he can be…well…he’s a friend, let’s leave it at that. The others…Dean would say they are dicks.”

Abbi choked and then began laughing hysterically. “I’m guessing Dean isn’t one to mince words.”

“No, he isn’t.”

“Good, I hate people who gloss things over. Say it straight or don’t say it at all. So, how would you describe them?”

“I never tried before. They are not what you would expect. Cas told Dean that angels are warriors of God. They want what they _think_ is right, and they don’t much care who gets hurt in the process.”

“Sounds an awful lot like demons to me.”

“Demons with the might of heaven on their side. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are some that aren’t all like that, but the ones we have met…” Sam’s voice trailed off. “But, we were talking about Cas. So, Cas is the reason I first got to meet Mom. He took Dean and me back to 1978.”

“Wait, just wait. Now, you want me to believe in time-travel, too? Dammit, Sam, this is a lot to take in. Angels, time-travel…what’s next? Lucifer and coming back from the dead?”

Sam laughed. “Well, I have met Lucifer, hell…no, story for another time. Remember, Lucifer is just a fallen angel. And coming back from the dead…not so far-fetched as you may think.”

“Sam, really. This is just too much. I’m not that gullible. This is all just some big joke, right? Teased the stranger, see what she is made of. Some sort of joke between you and Dean, or hunter test?”

“No joke, no test. Everything I am telling you is the truth. Abbi, I won’t lie to you. You can ask me anything. It’s just some of this will take hours to explain and if you really want to know about Mom and Dad, then you are going to have to go on faith for parts of it.”

There was silence for a few minutes before Abbi spoke again. “You promise to tell me everything when we get to your secret hideout?” At his nod, she smiled. “Okay, I’ll _go on faith_ as you put it. I can’t promise not to ask questions, though.”

“Okay, but if it is too long of an explanation—”

“Then I wait.”

“So, Cas took Dean and me back to when Mom and Dad were first married because some angels decided to kill them to prevent me from being born.”

“Why would they want to stop you from being born?” Interest was clear in her voice.

“Their reasoning was to save the world.” He sighed heavily. “You are going to find out anyway, I may as well tell you. I just ask that you wait for the full story until later. By preventing my birth, they would eliminate Lucifer’s true vessel.”

“I’m dying here, Sam. Do you know how hard it is to keep my questions inside my head? To suspend all disbelief in what you are saying?”

“Yeah, if I hadn’t lived it, I doubt I would believe me, either. But, you have to remember, Mom died when I was six months old. I have no memories of her, other than what I have from the past few years. Dean has some, but not many. I guess in reality, both of us are lucky in the aspect we have had a chance to go back and see her when she was happy.”

“I’m sorry. Sam, I didn’t think. I can’t imagine how hard growing up without her must have been for you.” She reached over and laid her hand on his shoulder.

He reached up and took her hand in his. “It’s okay. I can understand that you would want to know about them. I just wanted you to understand how I have memories of a mother I never knew.”

“If it is too painful to talk about them, we can talk about something else.”

“No, I want you to know her, even if there isn’t much I can tell you. She was beautiful, funny, smart. Happy with Dad. She left the hunter life when she married Dad. Had she lived, we wouldn’t be hunters.”

“I find that hard to believe. Hunting is in your blood. She may have tried to leave the life, but honestly, does anyone ever really escape this life?”

After a moment, Sam shook his head. “Not that I know of, so perhaps you are right. We’ll never know. Azazel killed her, and Dad in his grief raised us as hunters. He never stopped searching for Azazel. In the end, he died trying to stop him.”

“Azazel, so that is his name.”

“Don’t worry, he is dead. Dean shot him with the Colt. He can’t hurt anyone ever again.”

“When?”

“About seven years ago, not long after Dad died. Hey, I just thought about it, you don’t need gas or anything, do you? I can call Dean and tell him to stop.”

“What? Oh, no. Full tank. Dad always preached to fill the tank _before_ you got into town. That way, if something went wrong and you had to make a quick get-away, you didn’t have to worry. He always said that it wouldn’t be good to be caught on a gas station’s surveillance camera when you were trying to get out-of-town without anyone seeing you.”

“Smart man. So, what else do you want to know?”

“Everything. But, tell me about your dad.”

“Dad…I guess I should tell you that Dad and I didn’t see eye to eye much. Hell, we fought all the time. I loved him, don’t get me wrong, but Dean…Dean was the dutiful son. Always following Dad’s orders without question. Dad was tough, I guess looking back at it now, I can understand it. However, back then, I hated it.” Shaking his head, Sam smiled ruefully.

“I don’t take orders very well myself. I want what I want and heaven help anyone who gets in my way.” Abbi’s voice held a note a warning. “I’m very independent and used to things being my way. As an only child, I guess you could classify me as a spoiled brat. And I don’t plan on changing.”

“Good to know. Dad loved us. He did the best he could, given the circumstances. But, he was so focused on avenging Mom and protecting us, I think somewhere along the line, he stopped being a father.”

“I can’t even imagine what that was like for both of you. Yeah, I grew up hunting, but we were first and foremost, a family. Nice house, school, the whole shebang. That’s why I never…finding those pictures, hearing the truth about my parentage…I was shocked.”

“What happened?”

“I took off on my own. I just left a note saying I would be back…eventually. They had no idea where I went.”

“Where did you go?”

“I headed east. I don’t know what my intentions were. All I could think of was I was an orphan, my _real_ parents were dead. I knew you and your brother were hunters. We had heard stories about you over the years; I guess I thought by heading east, I could find you.”

“How far did you get?”

“Boulder. I think I was headed to Kansas. I don’t really know.”

“When exactly was this?”

“I found out September 12th, 2012. Some dates you don’t forget. Anyway, when I hit Boulder, I realized I was wrong. I called home, and then I turned my car around and headed back to sunny California.”

“Wait, you grew up in California? Where?”

“Palo Alto.” She knew what was coming. ‘Play it cool.’ Both voices in her head chimed out at the same time. ‘Sam doesn’t need to know.’

“I know where it is. I went to Stanford.”

“I went there, too.”

“We would have been there at the same time. How did we never meet?”

“Sam, I’m sure you were in the goody-two-shoes group. Me, I was in the trouble maker group. You wouldn’t have given me a second glance, all rebel and bad attitude.” Abbi laughed. “I am surprised I graduated without being kicked out. Guess a four point oh grade point average counts for something.”

“Smart one, were you?”

“Dean’s list entire time I was there. It’s my greatest embarrassment. And if you ever repeat it, I’ll have to kill you, and I know plenty of ways to do that.”

“Oh, I’m scared.”  Abbi pulled her hand from his and punched him in the arm, before putting it on the steering wheel.  

“You should be. And besides, you would have been a year ahead of me anyway. I started a year later than most kids.” She paused and took a deep breath. “I started school late because when I was little, we were hunting all the time. We didn’t settle until I actually started school, a year late.”

Sam smiled. “Chalk one more thing up to “things we have in common”,” he said. “With hunting and moving around so much, I started a year late, too. So, actually, we would have been in the same year at Stanford.”

“Crazy. Wonder how many other things we are going to discover.” She grew quiet for a few minutes. Then continued, “Now, tell me more about your dad.”

“Our dad. Abbi, they were your parents, too. I know you had parents, ones who raised you and loved you. But, Mary and John Winchester were your parents, even if you only just found out about them. I know it’s hard for you and I can’t even begin to imagine what you are going through, but I don’t think the parents who raised you would be hurt if you thought of them as your parents as well.”

“Maybe…Okay, your right. Mom always spoke about your mom with such love. My dad did, too. She was the one Campbell he said that he missed seeing. Mom told me he was devastated when she died. He went back for the funeral. It was the first time he had seen any member of the family since he left.”    

“Dean’s turning off. Oh, he found a diner. Great, I am starving.”

“Great, I am stuck with two of you now. Greasy food diners, my favorite.” His sarcastic tone was clear.

“Nothing wrong with a bit of grease after a hunt. Best medicine in the world. That and hot coffee…and pie.” Abbi smiled as she pulled into the spot next to Dean and shut off the car. She had her door open and was climbing out before Sam could even unhook his seatbelt.

Shaking his head, Sam climbed out of the car and followed his newly discovered sister and his brother into the diner, a smile on his face.

 


	5. Angels and Demons, Burgers and Pie

Dean chose a booth away from the few customers in the diner. He slid easily into the booth as Abbi slid in opposite him. She moved all the way in to allow Sam to sit next to her. Dean couldn’t help but wonder what they talked about on the way here.

“Dean, quick question,” Abbi started, but was cut off by the appearance of the waitress. Once she had passed out the menus, Abbi continued, “Sam here, has been telling me some pretty wild stories. I’m still trying to figure out if he is just teasing me, or what? I’m thinking,” she dropped her voice to a whisper, “maybe he is a bit crazy.”

“Really? What _stories_ has Sam been telling you?” Dean asked trying to sound nonchalant.

“Stories about angels,” she said. “He’s trying to convince me they are real.” She rolled her eyes.

“Sorry to tell you this, kid, but they are, and they are all dicks. ‘Cept for Cas, though he can be one when he wants.” Dean answered her.

Abbi couldn’t answer because at that moment, the waitress returned for their orders. “Bacon cheeseburger, fries with gravy, coffee, and what kind of pie do you have?” Abbi asked, she hadn’t even opened her menu.

“We got apple, chocolate cream, and cherry,” the waitress said.

“I’ll take a slice of cherry,” she said.

“And you?” she looked at Dean.

“I’ll have the same, but apple pie,” he said and handed her back the menu.

All eyes turned to Sam. “I guess I don’t want to be the odd man out, so I’ll have the same as they are having. But, give me chocolate pie.” He gave the waitress a huge smile as he handed her his and Abbi’s menus.

“Okay, so the angel story is true. What about Lucifer, huh? Seriously? Next, you will be telling me that Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael are real, too.” Abbi’s tone was sarcastic.

“Not only real, but we’ve met all of them. Quick run down…Gabriel and Raphael are dead, Michael and Lucifer are locked in a cage in hell.” A flash of what looked like sadness or regret passed through Dean’s eyes before he smiled at her disbelieving look. “Guess the world isn’t what you thought it was, is it?”

“I’m beginning to think I have a lot to learn,” Abbi said. “I’ve known that monsters were real since I was about five, but, this is just…”

“Welcome to our world, and we’ve hardly even scratched the surface,” Sam said.

Abbi dropped her head down onto her folded arms on the table. “Oh boy,” she muttered.

Sam and Dean both laughed at her reaction. “I think she is taking this very well. After all, it isn’t every day you find out about angels.” Sam said.

“At least she knows about the really bad stuff,” Dean retorted and began laughing again. “So, what else did you two talk about?”

“Not much. Abbi wanted to know about Mom and Dad, but we kept getting side-tracked,” Sam answered him.

Abbi lifted her head. “Yeah, by angels and demons.”

“Oh, I loved that movie,” the waitress said as she put down their plates. “I just love that Tom Hanks.”

They all just looked at her, then at each other. When she walked away, they all began laughing. “If she only knew,” Abbi said, as she looked around. “Take that guy at the counter in the gray shirt, for example.” She indicated the man with a flick of her head. Sam and Dean glanced his way.

“What about him?” asked Dean, his voice quiet and serious.

“Well, there is an old saying, ‘When I see a bird that walks like a duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.’” Abbi said.

“First said by poet, James Whitcomb Riley, I believe,” Sam responded. “But, what’s that got to do with that guy?”

“Very good, Sam. He’s sitting there, no food. He keeps stirring his coffee, but not drinking it. He’s obviously been in those clothes for a while. Awfully twitchy, too. So, either he is planning on robbing the place, or…”

“Or?” Dean asked.

“My money is on he’s a demon,” Abbi said. “What I am trying to figure out is what he is doing here. Is he waiting for someone? Must be, he keeps watching the door.”

Both Sam and Dean tensed. Abbi smiled. “Sam, do me a favor. Switch places with me.”

“Why?”

“Because somehow I doubt either of you are packing and I am,” she said calmly. “Now move.”

Sam stood and let her get out of the booth, then slid in to take the inside seat. It wasn’t until she sat back down, he even realized what he did. “Wait a minute,” he said, “I can’t let you—”

“Whoa, boy!” Abbi cut him off. “Let’s get something straight right here and now. I don’t need anyone protecting me. I can fight my own battles and one little ol’demon doesn’t scare me. Actually, he fascinates me. It isn’t often I catch one alone.” She reached out and switched the plates so she could continue eating.

Noticing that they were not eating, but paying attention to the man at the counter, Abbi cleared her throat. “There is nothing we can do while he is in here. No sense in letting a good meal go to waste. Eat, both of you! If he makes a move to leave, I got it.” She patted her left arm. “You are both going to have to learn to trust me.”

“I don’t know what you have shoved up that sleeve of yours, but it ain’t going to take out a demon,” Dean said, his voice held a note of reproach. “And for the record, I’m always _packing_.

“Wanna bet?” she said and glanced around to make sure no one was looking at them. She reached up her sleeve and pulled out her knife. “My father gave this to me on my eighteenth birthday. He told me since I was of age and he couldn’t stop me from going out on my own, he wanted me to have this.”

She handed the knife to Dean. The shock on Dean’s face when he looked at the knife was clear. “What?” Abbi asked. She saw him reach around to his back and he brought out a knife that looked exactly like hers. “Where did you get that?” she asked.

“A demon.” Dean handed her knife to Sam before putting his back where he had it.

Sam looked at her knife. “Looks just like Ruby’s,” he remarked. “Where did your dad get this?” He handed the knife back to her.

“He told me it was one of the few things he took when he left home. Said it had been his father’s and his before him. It’s never let me down when it comes to a demon.” Abbi slipped the knife back up her sleeve before returning to her meal.

The door of the diner opened and Dean shook his head. “Should’ve known,” he muttered.

Sam and Abbi looked behind them to see what Dean was talking about. “What the hell is he doing here?” Sam asked.

“Don’t know, but I’m going to find out,” Dean said as he stood up.

Seeing where he was going, Abbi made to follow him. Sam laid a restraining hand on her arm. “No, let him go.”

“Sam…”

“He’s fine. Trust me on this. The guy who just came in, his name is Crowley. And I guess that means you were right, the guy at the counter is a demon.”

“How do you know?” Abbi asked. She stopped trying to get up, but her body was tensed and ready to spring at any moment.

“Because Crowley is a demon too, and not just any demon. He is the King of Hell,” Sam said. “Well, he was King, I’m not sure what he is now.”

“And Dean is just strolling over there to talk to him?” Incredulity laced her tone. “ _And_ you’re just letting him!”

“It’s a complicated mixed-up situation,” Sam said, as he reached for his cheeseburger. “He’s helping us find someone.”

“You’re telling me that you are working with a demon?” Abbi’s voice was soft and calm. Had Sam known her better, he would have known that nothing good ever came about when she used that tone. It was her calm before the storm voice.

“Mm hmm.” He made a sound of agreement while chewing his food. He glanced back at Dean and Crowley. “Tell me something, how did you know that guy was a demon? It had to be more than just his lack of interest in his coffee.”

 “I’ll tell you, but,” she looked back to toward Dean before continuing, “I’m just not sure if you will believe me.”

“Try me,” Sam said.

“I just _knew_. It’s like something just clicks when I am near a demon, a sixth sense or something.” She shrugged. “Comes in handy on a hunt.”

The look Sam gave her worried her. Abbi didn’t understand why, but she suddenly felt like she was under a microscope.

“What else—”

“Moose!”

“Crowley.”

“And who is your lovely companion? I thought you and your brother were more into the brunettes,” Crowley said, as he looked down at Abbi.

Dean moved quickly to stand next to Abbi. “She’s none of your concern, Crowley.” He looked back towards the demon, who was now standing by the door. “Your pet is waiting for you. You should probably be on your way.”

“He’ll wait. I’m much more interested in why this pretty little thing is shooting daggers at me with her eyes, and wondering if she can get to her…I’m guessing knife before either of you could stop her.”

Both Sam and Dean looked quickly down at Abbi’s right hand which was, as Crowley indicated, sliding up the sleeve of her left arm.

Dean laughed. “Well, can’t fault a good hunter for wanting to stick you if the chance presents itself. But,” he laid his hand on Abbi’s shoulder, “as long as you are useful to us…” He let the sentence trail off.

“Blah, blah, blah. Same old story, just a different verse. Take, take, take, when was the last time you ever did anything for me?” Crowley asked.

“Oh, killing Abaddon won’t benefit you?” Sam retorted.   

“Tell me, Moose, who’s next on your list after that bitch is dead?”

Sam didn’t answer; he just raised his eyebrows and tilted his head as if to acknowledge what Crowley suspected.

“Go on then, keep your secrets. I’ve got work to do. Unlike you, I don’t have time for quiet dinners at _lovely_ little diners.” With that parting shot, Crowley walked away.

Dean watched him leave the diner before he sat down. He picked up his burger and took a big bite.

Sam waiting until Dean swallowed to ask, “So, what was Crowley doing here?”

“Trying to get information on Abaddon’s location. He had sent that demon to try to infiltrate her inner circle. So far, no luck.”

Abbi picked up a fry and had it half-way to her mouth when she stopped. “Hold it, Abaddon. As in from the Knights of Hell? That Abaddon?”

“You know about the Knights of Hell?” Sam asked, impressed.

Her eyes rolled. “Legends, myths, but then again, I guess not. Okay, Knights of Hell, created by Lucifer, first was supposed to have been Cain, of Cain and Abel fame. All of them were wiped out by the Archangels.” Abbi recited as if reading from a book.

“Where—”

Cutting Dean off, she answered, “I love books on lore and legends. Never met a library I didn’t like. Though the one at Stanford left something to be desired in the _haven’t read it yet_ department.”

“Stanford?” Dean choked on the fry he had just bitten into.

“Yeah, I went there for a year,” she answered. “And before you ask, yes, Sam and I were there at the same time, and no, we never ran into each other. Different crowds. He wouldn’t have hung out with my crowd.” She laughed.

“Why’s that?” Dean’s voice showed his interest.

“Let’s just say, I was more the boots, leather, and bad attitude type. Sam, here, I’m betting, and he didn’t deny it, was part of the goody-two-shoes club.”

Dean’s laughter rang out so loud everyone in the diner turned to look at them. Abbi found herself joining in. After a moment of looking affronted, Sam joined in.

‘So, this is what it is like to have brothers,’ she thought. ‘I think I may just like it.’ She picked up another fry and settled in to enjoy her first meal with her brothers.

           

           

 

             

 

           


	6. Home Base

Abbi would never clearly remember much of her first sight of the Bunker. Though they had stopped twice more for coffee along the way, by the time she parked her car in the underground garage, she was dead-ass tired. Opening the trunk, she grabbed her overnight bag and slung it over her shoulder before following Sam and Dean upstairs.

“Do you want a tour or to crash?” Sam asked.

“Sam, she can barely stand, she’s wiped,” Dean said. As if her body heard him, her legs began to sag. Dean was faster than Sam was and caught her mid-fall. “Hang on there, Warrior Princess. Let’s get you to bed.” He scooped her up and carried her down the hall to a bedroom.

Sam opened the door for them, and as Dean set her on the bed, she whispered, “Not a princess.”

They both chuckled. Dean slid the straps of her overnight bag from her shoulder and set it aside. Sam gently removed her jacket. This seemed to wake her a bit.

“Whoa, whatcha think you're doing, buddy?” she asked, her words slurred.

“Just taking your coat off,” Sam said innocently.

“Oh, k. Well, I think I can take it from here,” Abbi said, her voice a bit stronger. “And give me my coat,” she demanded. When Sam handed it to her, she immediately took out her knife and turned to put it under her pillow.

“You’re safe here,” Sam said.

“Tell me neither of you sleep without something under your pillow?” At the look of guilt in both of their eyes, she just smiled. “I’m good now. Go on, I ain’t getting undressed with you two in here.”

“Night,” Sam said as he turned and walked out the door.

Dean reached down and lifted her chin up to look at her closer. “I didn’t want to believe it, you know. But…you have Mom’s eyes.” With that, he left the room, closing the door softly behind him.

Abbi woke slowly. This was the part of hunting she hated, waking in a strange motel room, not knowing where she was at first. Without opening her eyes, she stretched out her legs. As she moved to roll onto her back, she was surprised to find her hand wasn’t around her knife. Her eyes flew open and she shot bolt upright in bed, even as she was reaching under her pillow.

“What the hell?” This was the first time since her parents died, probably even longer, she didn’t wake up with her hand cramped from being curled around her knife all night long.

Fuzzy memories of last night came to her as she realized where she was. Lying back down, she allowed her body to relax. Closing her eyes again, she assessed her current situation.

First, she was in a safe place. Yes, that was a good point. It had been so long since she could just relax. She honestly wasn’t sure she even remembered how to do it. Granted, she had to take it on trust that this place was safe, but she trusted her brothers…her brothers.

Now, there was a novel concept to consider. After all this time, after all the arguments, she had with herself over whether or not to seek them out, she was with them. Albeit, it wasn’t planned, but nonetheless, here she was.

What she needed right now was coffee and a bathroom, not necessarily in that order. Throwing back the blankets, she swung her legs off the edge of the bed and reached for her bag just as there was a knock on her door.

“Come in,” she called, lifting her bag and setting it next to her.

Sam entered with a warm smile and more importantly, a cup of coffee in his hand. “Thought you may want this. I couldn’t help but notice you seem to be addicted to the stuff.”

“My blood bleeds caffeine of any type,” she said, taking the cup. She sighed after downing half the cup.

“I’ll let you get dressed. Bathroom’s to the right, three doors down., go left to the end of the hall, then right, take the first left and you’ll find us in the main room. I think Dean is cooking up some breakfast for you, so don’t take too long.”

She didn’t know how to respond to that. The only one to ever make her breakfast was her mom. “Okay, be there in a few.” That was all she could say.

Sam left as she was debating on taking a quick shower. Realizing she didn’t have any clean clothes in her bag, she decided to wait until she could get some more of her things out of her car.

Five minutes later, she walked into the main room of the bunker and stopped dead. “Holy shit, Batman!” she said.

Dean, who was just setting plates full of food down on the table started laughing.

“Did I just find the Batcave?” she asked.

“Shh, don’t tell anyone, but…I’m Batman,” Dean said, his tone very serious.

Abbi looked at him, head cocked to the side, then at Sam. “Aren’t you a little bit tall for Robin? And…” She walked over to the table and put one arm around Dean as she laid her other hand on Sam’s shoulder before continuing, “I guess that would make me Batgirl.”

“Great,” Sam said, “here I was thinking how nice it would be to have a sister. Someone who may just be like me. But, no, you are like _him_.

“I don’t think so, Sam. I think she is like you,” Dean responded.

“I am me, guys,” Abbi argued. “I can’t be like either of you since I just met you.” She moved away from them to the other side of the table and sat down, opposite Sam as Dean sat next to Sam.

“This would make a great study on nature versus nurture,” Sam said thoughtfully.

“Can we just eat?” Dean asked. “No funny psychological stuff over breakfast, okay?” He began to pile food onto his plate.

“Didn’t study psych,” Sam said. “Lawyer here.”

Abbi dropped her head and concentrated on her breakfast. She knew what was coming.

“What did you study?” Sam asked.

And there it was, the _question_. Next would come the _look_ of incredulity when she told them what she studied. She let out a heavy sigh. Nothing for it, she’d have to tell them. “My major was in philosophy, with minors in psychology and religious studies.”

“And you still made the Dean’s list every semester?” Sam said awed.

Abbi growled at Sam. “Sam, remember what I said in the car?”

Sam looked sheepish. “Oops, sorry.”

“Great, another geek. Just what I need,” Dean moaned.

Both heads turned in unison towards him. “Geek? I’ll have you know, I have never been called that in my life,” Abbi said.

“Wait, if you went to college for four years, what about hunting?” Dean asked.

“Five years,” she corrected. “I actually got my masters in philosophy. But, to answer your question, I still hunted. Mostly, local stuff. Breaks between semesters, I could go out on cases further away.”

“And your parents were okay with you just going to school, giving up on hunting?” Dean’s voice was curt.

“I never _gave up_ hunting.” Her temper was up now. How could he accuse her of giving up something that was as fundamental to her as breathing? “In fact, I have no idea how I even managed my course work in the last year I was there with investigating what I knew was a demon attack close to campus.”

“Jess.”

Sam’s quiet whisper had Dean cursing and made Abbi close her eyes. ‘Idiot,’ she berated herself. ‘Stupid, brainless, fool. You just had to let your temper get the best of you, didn’t you?’

“Sam, I’m sorry,” she said as she reached across the table to grasp his hand. “I…”

‘You what? Didn’t mean to throw it in his face what it probably one of his worst memories? Yeah, explain that one. Go ahead, I dare you.’ Her voices were screaming at her. One thing they did loudly was to berate her when she did something foolish.

“You investigated Jess’ death?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, I did. I knew it was more than what the police claimed.” Abbi pulled her hand back. How much did she tell him?

‘Everything, you opened this can of worms.’ Her conscious was very persistent.

Sam’s focus sharpened as he looked into her eyes. “What did you find?”

“After I got over the shock of finding out about you being there, you mean?” 

"Wait," Sam said. "You knew I was there? You acted like you didn't know when we talked about this in the car." Sam's voice clearly showed his hurt and anger.

"I only found out you were there after you left, Sam. And I...I don't know why I didn't say anything in the car, I guess I knew it would bring up bad memories." She shrugged. 

"So, what did you find?" Sam asked.

“The events around her death fit into the strange pattern my dad had discovered around the country. Except, there was no baby involved.” 

Curiosity clear in his voice, Dean asked, “What events?”

“Electrical storms, temperature was changing weirdly, cattle deaths in the area, things that had happened all over the country whenever there was a strange fire and death,” Abbi answered. “We knew there had to be a demon involved. What we couldn’t figure out was why her.”

“Because of me,” Sam said as he pushed away from the table. “Jess died because she knew me.”

“Sammy—”

“Don’t, Dean. Just don’t, okay?” Sam answered as he picked up his plate and walked out of the room.

“Shit, I…” Abbi pushed back her hair. “I just can’t control my mouth when my temper is up. I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

“You didn’t, not really. Jess is just a sensitive subject for Sam,” Dean said. “How far did you get in your search?”

“Not very far. Like I said, we knew it was a demon, and he had been active for a long time. We couldn’t pin him down, though.”

“It was Azazel,” Dean said. “Same bastard that killed our mom…and dad.”

“Sam said you killed him.”

“Yeah. Straight through the heart,” Dean answered her.   

“Dio, 1983, umm, Diver album,” she responded automatically.

Dean’s eyes widened. “Holy hell,” he exclaimed. “Not all books in that brain, huh?”

“What? Oh, no. There are others things in there, too.” Abbi smiled.

Sam came back in the room and sat down. “Sorry.”

The simple word shattered Abbi’s heart. “Sam, don’t. I’m the one who should be apologizing. My mouth just runs free when my temper is up. Mom always said she was going to duct tape my mouth when she saw me losing it.”

“Interesting,” Dean said. “Who knows what we can learn if we push the right buttons then, huh?”

“I wouldn’t advise it,” she began. “You have only seen a flash of my temper. It starts out mildly enough but escalates quickly into something you don’t want to see. I can’t be responsible for whatever happens if you push me too far.”

“Warning noted.” Dean acknowledged with a nod of his head.

In an effort to lighten the mood, Abbi decided a change of topic was in order. “So, Sam, you said you would _tell_ me the longer stories when we got here. We are here, so let’s start. Tell me about where Dean was before you met Cas.”

“Ah, hell, this is going to take awhile,” Sam said.

“Hell, funny, Sam,” Dean said as he reached over and punched him in the arm. Sam, realizing what he said, chuckled. “I wouldn’t have been there, if…”

“Azazel,” Sam said. He took a deep breath. “Short version; Dean was in hell because he made a demon deal to bring me back after I was killed because of Azazel.”

“Wait, Sam, you died, Dean made a demon deal, we’ll come back to that, and because of that, he was in hell. Have I got that right?”

Sam nodded. Neither Abbi nor Sam noticed Dean had stood and was clearing the table.

“Demon deal? Like at a crossroads? Like _Robert Johnson_? That type of deal?”

“What do you know about them?”

“In theory, never met anyone who made one,” she answered. “Made at a crossroads in exchange for your soul. Standard time is ten years.” Abbi responded.

“Standard time, yes. Dean got a year,” Sam said, shaking his head, “with another condition.”

“Like?”

 “If Dean or I tried to get him out of the deal in any way, it would be void. Not only would Dean die and his soul go to hell, but I would die, too.”


	7. Suspicions and Realizations

“And he made this deal?”

“Damn straight, I did. And I would do it again to save Sam,” Dean said as he walked into the room. “Don’t give me that look, Sammy.”

Abbi didn’t know whether to intervene or not. The looks passing between her brothers had her thinking that there could be a fight brewing.

“Whatever, Dean. We’ve been over and over this, and right now, I don’t think is the time to go over it again.” He looked pointedly at Abbi.

“Yeah, whatever, Sammy,” Dean replied, his sarcastic tone clear.

Abbi noticed Dean rubbed his right arm, but before she could comment, he turned and walked back out of the room.

“Dean made the deal, and though we did try, we couldn’t get him out of it,” Sam said. “I’m not going into details, but he died and went to hell. It was four months later that Cas pulled him from hell.”

“Why do I think it wasn’t an easy four months for you?” Abbi asked.

“It wasn’t,” Sam said. “But, this is how Cas comes in. After we learned who pulled Dean out, he and Bobby summoned him. The rest is history, as they say.”

“Somehow, I don’t think it is as easy as that,” Abbi countered.

“No.” He chuckled. “Not easy, but Cas is a friend, just remember that when you meet him, okay?”

Abbi nodded. “Easier to think of an angel as a friend than a demon,” she retorted.

“Crowley…well, I wouldn’t call Crowley a friend, exactly. A means to an end,” Sam said.

“Might be best to keep me away from him. My hand gets awfully twitchy when there is a demon around. Wouldn’t want it to _slip_ or anything.” Abbi smiled.

“Just keep that blade of yours stowed, Warrior Princess,” Dean cautioned as he came in and sat down at the table. “We need Crowley…for now. And when we don’t…well, let’s just say, he won’t be your problem to deal with.”

Abbi was shocked at the look in Dean’s eyes. There was something in them she couldn’t define. An intensity, no, it was something else…if she didn’t know better, she would say a bloodlust in his eyes. 

“You called me that last night,” she said to Dean. “Why?”

“If the name fits,” he said.

“The old proverb is actually ‘If the cap fits’, but that’s neither here nor there, why do you call me that?”

“Aren’t you? Grew up with the whole _apple pie life_ , family, home, school, everything a kid could want. And let’s not forget the scene in Casper.” Dean paused before adding grudgingly, “Hell of a job you did there.”

“ _Apple pie life_? I suppose finding out that the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood was most likely a werewolf at the age of five is normal. Or, seeing a vamp rip into your teacher’s throat at six is just _part_ of growing up.”

She took a deep breath. “Or, then there is the time…just before I turned eight, I was almost kidnapped by a demon. Oh, yeah, I had an ordinary life.”

“Hold on a minute,” Dean said as he stood and left the room.

Abbi looked at Sam, but he just shrugged as if to say, ‘No idea.’

Dean came back in carrying a leather-bound book. “When was that? When you were almost kidnapped?”

“I don’t know, umm, it was about a month before I turned eight, so April of ’91. Why?”

She watched as he flipped through what she saw now was a journal. “Because Sammy was almost kidnapped at the same time.”

“When? Where? I don’t remember that,” Sam said.

“Albuquerque, Ms. Lyle,” Dean told Sam as he handed him the journal and then turned back to Abbi. “What happened?” His voice, when he asked the question, wasn’t concerned, it was…clinical.

“I don’t remember much, really. One minute I was in school, and the next, I was in my parent’s car. We were driving through some woods.”

Nodding, Dean said, “Pretty much like Sammy. He didn’t remember anything, either. I wonder why it happened to you.”

“No idea. We never did figure that mystery out,” she said. “The demon smoked out before Dad could get any answers. At least, that’s what they told me.”

The look exchanged between Sam and Dean sent shivers up her spine. She didn’t know why, but suddenly she felt cold. “Do you think they lied to me?” she asked, fearful of their answer.

“We’re not saying that,” Sam said softly as he closed the journal.

“Sam, we have to know,” Dean said.

“Know what?” Abbi was confused, but she didn’t like the seriousness of Dean’s tone or the look of…was that anguish or shame in Sam’s eyes.

“It doesn’t affect her. It never…it couldn’t have…” Sam’s voice trailed off. He stood and began pacing around the room.

“Sammy, we don’t know that. Look at that kid with the painted van and his brother.”

“Andy?” At Dean’s nod, Sam continued. “Dean, no…” Sam’s slumped shoulders and pleading tone broke Abbi’s heart. She had no idea what they were talking about, but she knew, deep down, that whatever it was, she would rather die than to see Sam so hurt.

“Dean, whatever it is, is it really that important?” she asked, rolling her eyes towards Sam.

He looked at his brother. “Yeah, it is. Look, I’m sorry, Sam, but we have to know.”

Sam sighed heavily and nodded. He sat back down. “Remember when I told you Dean was in hell because I died?”

Abbi nodded. “That isn’t something you forget.”

“I died because of Azazel,” Sam said. “Because…well, because I was one of his _Special Children_.”

“Special children? I’ve heard of them.”

Before she could say anything, he rushed on, “The night Mom died, the night he killed her. He was in my nursery when she came in. He was feeding me his blood.” Sam looked down at the table. “I have demon blood in me.”

Abbi wanted to reassure him, tell him it didn’t matter to her. That it changed nothing. But doing it required just the right words. The last thing she wanted was questions.

“Sam, I know what he did to you. It was one of the things we did manage to find out about the demon we were chasing that killed Jess.” She drew in a deep breath at his wince.

“Yeah, he fed all of us his blood. We each shared something else in common. We each had some sort of extra-sensory power.” Sam waited for her questions. When none came, he continued, “Things like telekinesis, mind control, premonitions.”

“So, that part was true, too,” she said and then rushed to explain. “We heard rumors of the Special Children of a bigshot demon. That they had powers. They were going to bring forth a demon army for him.”

“That was the plan,” Sam said. “He didn’t survive to command the army released from the Devil’s Gate.”

“Sam…” Dean’s voice cut into their conversation.

“Yeah, okay, okay,” Sam said. “Abbi, have you ever…I mean…”

“Have I ever controlled someone with a thought? No, wish that I could, but no.” She smiled.

‘Get yourself out of this one,’ the voice in her head said.

“Sam, stop beating around the bush about it. Abbi, have you ever done anything you couldn’t explain? Anything weird?”

‘Make up your mind, tell the truth, or lie. Just know that you are going to have a hell of a time hiding it forever.’

She looked at Sam, trying to keep her indecision out of her eyes. The torment she saw in his broke her heart.

“I almost always know if there is any type of, let’s say, creature or monster, or whatever, in a building before I go in. I can tell what they are. Even how many. As long as I concentrate…” she said.

“Did you know there was a demon in that diner _before_ we went in?” Dean asked.

“No. I wasn’t paying attention. I let my guard down. I’m sorry. I could’ve got both of you killed.” Her apology was sincere, her tone serious shocking both brothers.

“Hey, the day I can’t take out one little demon, is the day I hang up the keys to Baby,” Dean said jokingly.

“Dean, she’s serious,” Sam said, drawing Dean’s gaze to rake over Abbi’s face. “What happened?” Sam asked gently.

“It should have been easy,” she said. “A quick nest clearing, in and out. No big deal. Nothing we hadn’t done a dozen times before. I was hyped, too hyped, I see that now.” She paused and pulled her knife from the small of her back and looked at it.

“I didn’t have this with me. Too small, really, for a vamp hunt and a demon knife on a vamp hunt isn’t necessary. Probably wouldn’t have made any difference anyway even if I had thrown it. We went in at noon. It was supposed to be a small nest of five vamps. I was so focused on the hunt, I didn’t pay attention. I didn’t pay attention…”

Sam reached over and laid his hands on top of hers. Her smile was weak and her eyes watery when they met his. Taking a deep breath, she forced the rest out.

“It was a small warehouse, one floor. We walked into a vamp factory. The five we had seen coming and going were the runners, I learned later. They brought in blood bags to feed the others. There weren’t just five vamps, there were ten older vamps and twenty-five newly turned ones.”

She pulled her hands free of Sam’s to run them through her hair. Then, impatiently wiping away the tears that fell from her eyes, she continued, “They got Mom first, then Dad when he tried to save her. They didn’t feed on them, they tore them apart. I was fighting off half a dozen and could do nothing to help them. I started shooting as I backed my way to the door. I drove out of town and called reinforcements. We cleared the nest that night. No one survived.”

She wiped away the remaining tears. Her eyes still held unshed ones, but they burned bright with anger. “I gave them both a hunter’s funeral. Put what I wanted from the house in storage, sold it and everything else, and hit the road. I haven’t been back.”

“Abbi, you can’t blame yourself,” Sam said.

“Don’t, Sam. I should have known. I would have known if I had been paying more attention. Don’t you get it, yet? I know what evil lurks in a building. I know how many and what type. I just have to pay attention.”

“What else?” Dean asked.

“What that isn’t enough for you? How about this? I know there is something wrong with you. Something dark and dangerous, and it worries me.” She closed her eyes. Suddenly, they flew open and she reached for Dean’s arm. “The Mark of Cain! Seriously, Dean! What in holy hell are you doing with that?”

“I told you, I know when there is evil around, and that mark…I’ve read about it. I thought it was just a story, but since Sam told me Cain was real, I realize it isn’t.”

“It’s a means to an end,” Dean said, pulling his arm back.

“Like Crowley? What in the hell are the two of you playing with? Demons, and the Mark of Cain. I heard rumors, I always defended you, but this…makes me wonder.”

“What rumors?” Sam asked.

“Rumors about you being half-demon, about you releasing a host of demons for the Devil’s Gate. Things like that,” she said.

“We didn’t open the gate, but we were there. I’m not half-demon, but well, I don’t know what I am with the demon blood in me,” Sam said.

“You defended us?”

“Of course. I may not have known you, but I knew I was related to you on Dad’s side. I thought you were cousins, remember? And that made you family, and no one talks shit about my family.”

Dean nodded. “So, now we need to figure out why you can sense what you do.”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” Sam said. “He got to her, too.”


	8. Separate Hunts

“Who _got_ to me?” Abbi asked though she knew deep down who Sam was speaking of.

“Azazel,” Sam replied. “He must have visited you when you were six months old like he did me.”

Abbi knew he was right, she had already figured this out herself. When her mother had confessed the truth of why Mary had given her away, she wondered if her special ability had anything to do with that demon. She had found out about the Special Children and it all fell into place.

‘Too bad her giving you away didn’t protect you,’ her mind stated sarcastically.

“I think you may be right,” Abbi said softly. ‘Slippery slope,’ the cautious side of her mind said. ‘Be careful or you will end up telling Sam _everything._ ’

“When did you first discover you could sense monsters?” Dean asked.

“Um, I guess it was my last year at school. So, 2005. I just started having feelings of what was around, it gradually got stronger.”

“It never went away?” asked Sam.

Abbi shook her head. “No, if anything it has only become clearer as time goes on. Why? Should it have stopped?”          

“You’re not doing anything to enhance your powers, are you?” Dean’s voice was suspicious.

Confused, Abbi looked from Sam to Dean. “Do anything? What do you mean?”

But Dean didn’t answer her question, he just continued to press her. “Is there anything else you can do?”

“Dean, I have no idea what you are talking about. I just know what is around, that’s all. I have no idea how it works or why, but that is all,” she insisted.

The ringing of her cell phone interrupted whatever Dean was about to say. Looking down at the screen, she quickly answered it. “Jake, whatcha got for me?” She listened and make non-committal sounds as the voice on the other end rambled on. “Jake, hold on. I’m only about an hour away…Yeah, I know. Anyway, give me a couple hours and I’ll be there…NO! Jake, don’t go in alone. Come on, man, you know, I’ve never let you down before…K, see you soon…love you too, jackass.” She hung up the phone and smiled.

“Going somewhere?” Dean asked.

“Sure am, vamp nest. Don’t even,” she said, holding up her hand. “I’m going. I’ll be back by tonight. No, you are not going with me. I can handle it. You may as well get used to me going out on my own now, or we are going to have problems.”

Both brothers looked as if they were going to argue. Sam broke the silence, “We can come.”

“Look, I don’t need a babysitter. I won’t be going in alone. Jake and his husband are already there, so there will be three of us. Stay here, keep searching for Abaddon. I just need you to point me in the direction of my car so I can get a change of clothes so I can take a quick shower before I go.”

Sam sighed. “I’ll show you.”

Thirty minutes later, Abbi was gone and Dean was in the shower when Sam called Carlos to see if he had heard any news that could help in their search.

**“Yeah. All right. Thanks, Carlos. Listen, you, uh, if you catch wind of any other demon activity, give me a holler, all right? Appreciate it.” Sam hung up the phone and looked up to see Dean enter the room. “Hey.”

“Anything?”

“Yeah. A dozen demon-related cases, people without souls acting out, but…”

“But no sign of Abaddon.”

“Right. Looks like she vanished.”

“Well, we just got to keep digging.”

“Right.” Sam agreed and noticed Dean absently rubbing the Mark of Cain on his arm. “You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Let’s get to work.”

“All right.” **Sam answered as he went back to his computer.

An hour later, after receiving a phone call from Cas about Gadreel, the brothers were on their way to Ogden, Utah.

Meanwhile, Abbi was just arriving in Hastings, Nebraska. Pulling into the diner which Jake and Mick were waiting for her, she turned off her car. Glancing at the sun as she got out, she wanted to get going as quickly as possible, before they lost the daylight.

“Abbi, dear,” Jake called as she walked up the aisle towards their booth. He stood and hugged her before sliding back in and making room for her next to him.

“Hey, boys, nice of you to call me,” she said.

“We hoped you were still in the area,” Mick said. “Heard you broke your rule and came ‘cross the Rockies for a hunt.”

“Yeah,” she answered and frowned.

“Something wrong, sweetheart?” Jake asked immediately.

“No, yes, I don’t know. We don’t have time for a catch-up now. We’re burning daylight. How ‘bout we finish this then we chat?”

“Sounds good. Nest is only about a mile from here. You want to ride with us, or follow in your car?” Mick asked.

“I’ll take my car. Easier than transferring everything in the parking lot,” she said and raised her eyebrows.

“Oh, yeah, right,” said Mick, a sheepish look on his face.

“Let’s go, then. You can fill me in when we get there,” she said.

They all left the diner together and she followed them to an abandoned warehouse on the west side of town. The warehouse was only one story which made it easier on all of them, however, it brought back too many memories of another hunt for Abbi.

Her hands were shaking as she opened her trunk and began to grab her trusted weapons. “Jake, what do you know of this nest?”

“Five vamps, three females, two males. We were in the warehouse last night when they all were out feeding. It is just one level, they have old mattresses on the floor. Looks like there are two couples and one single.”

“You let them hunt and came here?” Her voice was calm, but it was clear she was upset over this news.

“Abs, we tried to follow them, and lost them,” Mick said. “We figured we should find out about the warehouse while we had the chance and come in today. We also thought it might be best to call you and see if you were still around here.”

“We know how you love your vamp hunts,” Jake added.

“Hmm,” was her only reply. They crossed the street and cautiously approached the warehouse. Abbi held her hand up to signal for them to stop and she stood perfectly still concentrating on what was inside. She didn’t want to make another mistake.

After only a minute or so, she leaned close to them. “There are five vamps, just as you said. From what I can tell, they are all stationary.”

Neither man questioned her intel. They had worked with her before on hunts and knew she had an uncanny knack for knowing what they were up against before they went inside. They also respected her enough to keep this information to themselves. Hunters tended to be a suspicious group on the whole, and something like this wouldn’t be received well.

It took less than five minutes to clear the nest. However, it took another hour and half to clean up the warehouse enough to make it look like nothing happened there and to bury the bodies in a grave out back. By this time, they were all sweaty, dirty and tired.

“What do you say to some drive-thru on the way to our hotel? You can tell us your story while we pack,” Jake said.

When Abbi agreed, they decided what they wanted and headed to the local fast food restaurant. While waiting in the drive-thru, Abbi’s phone rang. It was a ring tone she didn’t recognize. Looking down at the screen, she saw the name and groaned. “Dean,” she said, trying to keep her voice level. “Who hijacked my phone?’

Laughter met her question. “Well, that would be Sammy. See you are in Haskins. Everything okay?” he asked.

“GPS tracking, too? Geez, that will teach me to leave my phone lying around,” she grumbled. “Yes, big brother, everything is fine. Five vamps, headless and buried. Just getting some take out…hang on a sec…double cheeseburger, extra onions, fries, um, large strawberry, no vanilla shake…Okay, where were we? Oh, yes, vamp nest cleared. Anything else?” she asked curtly.

“No, I guess that’s it. Listen, we had to head out. We are on our way to Oregon. We’ll be back in a few days. We left the key to the garage under the big rock outside the garage doors.”

“K, no problem,” she said absently as she handed the girl at the window her money and took her food. “Can I have some ketchup and salt? Thanks.” She threw the condiments in the bag.

“Salt, really? Don’t you have that?” asked Dean through his laughter.

“Sure do, lots of it, but I prefer table salt to rock salt on my food,” she retorted. “Listen, anything you want me to do when I get back to the Bunker?”

“You can keep searching for Abaddon,” said Dean. “Let’s see how your search skills are.”

“You got it. I should be back there tonight. Just going to go and eat with Jake and Mack, then head back.”

“Drive safe,” said Dean. “And…”

“And?”

“Nothing, nevermind,” Dean said. “We’ll call you later.”

“K,” she said and heard him hang up the phone. Shrugging, she pulled into the spot next to Jake at the motel and grabbing her food and her purse, got out to follow them into their room.

“I _can’t_ believe this,” Jake exclaimed after Abbi had told them the story of meeting her brothers and why she was still in the area. “I always wondered what the whole _not_ hunting this side of the Rockies was about, but…wow, just wow!”

Mack stood and went over to Abbi and knelt down in front of her. Placing his hands on her knees, he looked into her eyes. “Are you okay? I mean, hell honey, this is a lot for you to handle.”

Tears formed in Abbi’s eyes at his uncanny understanding of what she was feeling. “I don’t know what I am to tell you the truth. Part of me is still grieving losing my parents, but…my brothers…oh, they are so much more than I could have ever hoped for. And Sam…”

What about Sam? How did she explain that she finally felt complete now that she had found Sam? That all her life, she had always felt part of her was missing? How did she explain that at times, she hurt or felt loss and couldn’t explain it. She knew now, it was her twin connection to Sam. She wanted to talk to Sam about all this, but she hadn’t had the chance before they each went on separate hunts.

“Honey, as long as you are happy, then we are happy for you. So, tell us, are you going to be based out here now, with them?” Jake asked.

“I haven’t thought about it. But, I think so. I guess I will be working out of their place in Kansas,” she said.

“What is the west coast going to do without you?” asked Mack as he stood and ruffled her hair.

“The west coast has the both of you and you can always call me. Hell, you will probably get three for the price of one next time,” she said jokingly.

“Oh, the famous Winchesters coming in on a case for us. Cool beans,” Mack said.

“Speaking of cases, you guys haven’t heard of any weird demon activity lately, have you?”

“Just the normal dustups,” said Jake. “Why? Looking for a demon in particular? Or are you still looking for that one _that got away_?”

“No, Azazel was his name, and Dean killed him years ago. The one currently on the radar is called Abaddon. If you hear anything about her, call me, k? Just don’t go asking around about her.”

“Big baddie, huh?” Mack joked.

“Knight of Hell,” Abbi answered.

“No shit!” Jake’s voice sounded amazed. “We’ll keep our ears open, and call if we hear anything.”

“Thanks, guys. Listen, I gotta head out. I told Dean I would be back at the Bunker by tonight.”

“Curfew?” Mack teased.

“No, but believe it or not, they worry. No sense in having them worry when they are out on a hunt of their own. They need their focus.”

“Right. Thanks, Abs, for the assist. And call if you are ever out our way,” Jake said as he hugged her goodbye.

“Will do,” she said, then turned to hug Mack. “See ya soon, guys. Stay safe.” With that, she left and headed back to the Bunker.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **taken from the transcript of 9.18 Meta-Fiction


	9. Pizza, Beer and Decisions

Abbi pulled into the Bunker’s garage just after midnight. She was tired and hungry as well as grumpy from the drive. She wanted food, a hot shower, and her bed. What she didn’t want was to hear her cell phone ringing as she was pulling out clothes from the trunk of her car.

“Dammit, Dean, I just got home,” she muttered as she fumbled for her phone in her pocket. Without looking at who was calling, she hit the accept button, “WHAT?”

“Whoa, bad timing?” Sam’s voice showed his surprise at the way she answered the phone.

“What? Oh, no, sorry.” Abbi rushed to reassure him. “I thought you were Dean, _again_. He has called me twice in the past hour wanting to know where I was and when I would be back at the Bunker.”

“Yeah, I know. He…um…well, he suggested it might be better if I call this time. He didn’t think you would answer if he called again.” The sheepish tone in Sam’s voice was clear.

Growling, Abbi slammed her trunk. “Look, I am at the Bunker, k? I am going in and going to bed. Both of you can just leave me alone now.”

In a very serious tone, Sam replied, “Abbi, you’ll never be alone again. Get some sleep. Call when you get up, k?”

Tears formed in Abbi’s eyes as Sam’s words flowed into her. Love she didn’t know she was capable of ever feeling again flooded through her. “Sure, no problem,” she said.

“Goodnight, sis,” Sam said.

“Night, Sam,” she said as she hung up the phone. She wasn’t sure how she felt right now. Too many feelings were running through her. She dropped her clothes on her bed and went to see what she could find in the kitchen to eat.

Opening the refrigerator, she groaned and shook her head. Great choices, beer, some brown at the edges lettuce, and a few limp carrots were the first things she saw. Pushing the beer aside, she looked behind it and was rewarded with a pizza box.

“Hallelujah,” she said. She pulled the box out and prayed it was edible. A quick sniff told her it didn’t smell bad, and better than that, it was covered in bacon. After searching for ten minutes, finally located a tray to put it on and put it in the oven she already had warming. Once that was done, she grabbed a beer and went in search of a plate.

Twenty minutes later, she was sitting at the kitchen table with the hot pizza in front of her and her second bottle of beer beside her plate. Realizing how rude she had been to Sam, she pulled out her phone and found his number.

“What’s wrong?” Sam’s voice was filled with concern. Abbi could tell she was on speakerphone by the distance of his voice.

“Nothing,” she reassured him quickly. “I just…well, I was just sitting here eating left-over pizza and drinking your beer and realized how rude I was when you called. So, I’m sorry.”

“You’re sure nothing’s wrong?” This time it was Dean’s voice she heard.

“Not unless you tell me this pizza is so old I am going to get food poisoning,” she joked.

“Naw, it’s from, ahh, two days ago. You should be good. But, if you drink all my beer…then we have a problem,” Dean said.

“Only thing here to drink,” she said. “I’ll make a run tomorrow. There’ll be plenty when you get back. When are you getting back?”

“Not sure, we are just outside Ogden now. Probably be a couple days or so,” Sam answered. “Listen, nothing can get in there, you don’t have to worry.”

“I’m not worried,” she said. “Hey, you want me to drive out?”

“Naw, we got this, Warrior Princess,” Dean joked. “You can do more good there looking for Abaddon.”

“Sure, sure,” she said. “Be a good girl and stay inside.” She rolled her eyes, but she was too tired to get upset. Reaching for her bottle of beer, she found it empty. “Hmm, weird.”

“What’s weird?” Sam’s voice was cautious.

“My beer is gone and I don’t remember drinking it,” she said. “Strange. Maybe I am just more tired than I thought.”

“How many have you had?” asked Dean.

“A hell of a lot less than I would have had if I didn’t stop to call you. So, screw you, Dean, you’re not my father.” Abbi could hear Sam’s laughter clearly through the phone.

“No, but I am your older brother and if you can’t remember even drinking that beer, then you’ve had one too many,” he retorted.

“Dean…” Abbi heard Sam cautioning Dean.

“No, Sam, it’s okay. I’m not taking the bait, I’m too tired to argue.” She opened another bottle of beer, making sure they could hear the cap hitting the trash can when she threw it in there. “I’m going to say goodnight, again and hang up. Don’t worry, Dean. I will replace whatever I drink tomorrow. Hell, I’d run now and get some, but I don’t drive if I’ve been drinking so…”

“Abbi—” Sam started only to have Abbi cut him off.

“Goodnight, Sam. Dean, maybe we’ll talk about how unreasonable you just were when you get back, maybe we won’t…Be safe, _both_ of you. Night.” She quickly hung up the phone before either of them could respond.

When the phone immediately rang, she let it go to voicemail, she was done talking for the night. Taking her beer, she headed to her room. She was going to take that shower and crawl into bed.

When Abbi woke up the next morning, she automatically checked her phone. There were five voicemails. Groaning, she decided she needed coffee before dealing with them. She felt sluggish and out-of-sorts this morning and a quick glance at the clock told her why. It was only eight in the morning, she had only about six hours sleep.

Grabbing her dad’s old duffle bag from the floor by her bed where she tossed it last night, she set it on the bed. Abbi decided she was going to have a lazy day and pulled out sweatpants and a sweatshirt to put on. As she tugged out her shirt, something fell to the floor.

Bending down, she picked up the brown leather wallet. “Daddy,” she whispered as she held the wallet to her heart. Heaving a heavy sigh, she placed the wallet on the table beside her bed and turned away. Once dressed, she put her hair into a ponytail and went to make some coffee.

Coffee brewing, she put her phone on speaker and started playing her voicemails. As she expected, the first ones were from her brothers.

“Abbi, pick up the damn phone.” Dean’s voice was stern. The second came in according to the timestamp a few minutes later, “Abbi, listen, I was out-of-line, just answer the phone.” Dean…again. Then the third, immediately after, “Abbi, if you don’t answer—Dean, she isn’t going to pick up to threats, let her cool off.” Sam’s voice had interrupted Dean’s tirade before it could start. “Abbi, just call me back.” Then the line went dead.

The fourth message had come in at about six this morning and surprisingly wasn’t from either of her brothers. “Hey Abs,” Jake’s voice sounded tired. “Thanks for the assist yesterday. We owe you one. We're just about home so stop worrying. Love you, babe. Talk soon.”

She had just finished making her first cup of coffee and was walking back to the table when the last message began playing. There was no timestamp, which Abbi thought strange but shrugged off. “Abbi girl, I miss you.” She dropped her coffee.

There was only one person who ever called her Abbi girl…her father. She grabbed her phone to replay the message. Not only was there no timestamp, but there was no phone number, either. When the option came on to save or delete, she clicked save and set the phone down staring at it as if it was alive.

The phone ringing had her grabbing it quickly to answer it. Her voice shaky as she answered, “Hello.”

“Abbi, what’s wrong?” Sam’s voice took her by surprise. She had been expecting to hear her father’s voice.

“Wrong?” She was confused by his question.

“I just got this strange feeling that you were in trouble or something,” Sam said.

“No, no, I’m fine,” she rushed to reassure him.

“Abbi, you sound odd. Are you sure you are okay?”

“Yeah, just tired. Haven’t had my coffee yet, that’s all,” she said. Abbi wasn’t sure why she wasn’t telling him about the voicemail except that there was nothing he could do about it but worry anyway.

“Okay, if you are sure,” Sam said, but she could tell he wasn’t convinced.

“I am,” she answered.

“All right. Listen, we’ll be home soon. This shouldn’t take too long to wrap up. I’ll call you later, k?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure. I’ll be here,” she answered. “Hey, Sam…stay safe out there.”

“Will do,” he responded as he hung up the phone.

Abbi cleaned up the mess from her coffee incident and made herself another cup. She decided the voicemail had to be a prank. But how it was done, she had no idea. One thing she had never gotten the hang of was cracking phone records, something she deeply regretted now. Perhaps one of her brothers knew how to do it. Deciding she would worry about it when they got home, she took her coffee into the main room to get started on the research her brothers had asked her to do.

When she went to her car to get her laptop, she realized it was crazy to keep having to go to her car for things she needed. She told Jake and Mack this was her home base now, so she may as well make it that way. It took her about a half hour to get her things into her room. She didn’t have much she traveled with. It only took about the same amount of time to put everything away.

Back in the main room, she made another decision and picked up her phone. “Hey, Jake.”

“Abs! Everything okay? You sound funny. And, hell, Abs, it’s only seven in the morning. What’s going on, babe?” Jake’s voice was laced with concern.

“Oh, God, sorry Jake. I didn’t think about the time. Not used to being in a different time zone.” Abbi apologized.

“Hey, it’s fine, no prob,” Jake said.

“So, I need to call in that favor already,” Abbi told him.

“Wow, Abs, only a couple hours and you need us, huh? Must be something pretty big,” Jake joked.

“It is,” said Abbi. “I need you to rent a truck, go to my storage locker, clean it out and bring everything to me.”

“Whoa, what? Abs, are you serious? You are meaning to stay there? Like settle in and everything?” Shock was clear in Jake’s voice, all traces of sleep gone.

“Yup, I’m staying. I can’t explain it, Jake. But…well…Sam and Dean…their family,” she said.

“No problem, we’ll do it. Though, you think it would be okay if we got a bit more sleep first?” he asked.

Abbi burst out laughing. “Sure, Jake. No problem at all. Give me a call when you are ready to leave Cali, and I’ll give you directions.”

“Okay, we’ll probably be ready to leave by tonight,” Jake said.

“Sounds great. Thanks, Jake,” Abbi replied and hung up the phone.

With that taken care of, she went and got another cup of coffee, wondering as she often did on mornings like these, if a coffee IV would just be easier. Settling in with her coffee and laptop, she began her research. 


	10. Fear, Loneliness and Omelets

Abbi spent the next few hours checking news reports from across the country for anything that might signal something big was going on. It was only when she couldn’t ignore her stomach any longer that she decided to take a break. Knowing there was nothing worth eating in the kitchen, she went to her room to grab her keys and purse for a trip to the store.

She was half-way to the garage when she realized she had no idea where the store was. Shaking her head, she headed back to her laptop to pull up a detailed map of the town and figure out where she was going.

Searching for a store was an eye-opening experience for Abbi. Both times she had come to the Bunker had been late at night and she had been exhausted. She never even noticed she was basically in the middle of nowhere. This town had only a bit over two hundred people. She could have tripped over that many people just going for a walk around her neighborhood back home. She finally located a grocery store in nearby town and decided that was where she would go. After jotting down the location, she went to her car to program it into her GPS.

Three hours later, Abbi pulled back into the garage. She hated shopping but when she did it, she always overdid it. Groaning at the thought of unloading her car, she laid her head back on the headrest and closed her eyes.

** _A man is sitting chained to a chair. Blood is pouring from a wound on his chest and his face clearly shows signs of being beaten. Dean has his back to him._

_"You really think Sam would do anything for you?” the man asks._

_Dean turns slowly, his face blank. “Oh, I know he would.”_

_"I’ve been in your brother’s body, Dean. He would not trade his life for yours.”_

_“Well, thanks for the rerun, pal. Sam’s already told me all that crap. Hell, he’s told me worse.”_

_“He told you that he always felt that way…” At the blank stare from Dean, the man continued, “that he thinks you are just a scared little boy who’s afraid to be on his own because Daddy never loved him enough? And he’s right, isn’t he? Right to think you are a coward, a sad, clingy, needy…”_

_The fist came fast and smashed into the man’s mouth. “Keep it up,” Dean growled._

_“Pathetic bottom-feeder who cannot even take care of himself, who would  rather drag everyone through the mud than to be alone, who would let everyone around him die!”_

_As the long silver blade swung high and down the man closed his eyes. It stopped just short of the man’s chest. The man’s eyes flew open full of panic._

_“No. Do it. Do it! Kill me!” he cried._

_“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you? That’s what that whole speech was about. You’re not afraid to die, are you? You’re afraid to be left in these chains forever. Well, you can sit there and rot, you son of a bitch.”**_

_Dean  begins to beat the man in the chair. Then stumbles away and collapses against the wall._

Abbi jerked awake covered in sweat. She rushed to find her phone and quickly called Dean. Receiving no answer, she dials Sam’s number even as she grabs her GPS to program in Ogden.

“Hello,” Sam answered on the first ring.

“Sam, Dean…he’s…shit, where is Dean?” She was having trouble focusing on anything other than her brother was in trouble. Her chest felt tight and it was getting very hard to breathe.

“Abbi, um, he’s not here, why?” Sam’s evasiveness made her panic even more.

“He’s in trouble. I just saw, well, not saw, exactly. I was dreaming, a nightmare, I guess, but Sam, it was so real,” Abbi rushed to explain. “He was in this warehouse or factory, so something. There was this other guy, chained to a chair. Sam, Dean’s unconscious.”

“Dean’s hurt?” Now she had Sam’s attention.

“ Yes, no, I don’t know.” Why was it so hard to breathe? The car was too small, she felt like there was no air in here. She threw open the door and got out. She was struggling to breathe.

“Abbi, Abbi, are you okay?”

“Can’t breath,” she managed to gasp out. “There’s no air in here.”

“Where are you?” Sam’s voice was gentle.

“The garage,” she told him.

“There is plenty of air in there. Sit down, hon. Close your eyes and listen to my voice, just my voice. Breathe in slowly, hold it and blow it out even slower. Come on, do it.” He waited a few seconds then told her to do it again, and again. “Now, better?”

“Yeah, I think so,” she replied.

“Now, tell me about Dean,” he urged. “What condition is he in?”

“Okay, I think Dean is just exhausted most likely. Sam, he was going to kill that man with a long silver sword type thing, and then he beat that him—”

“That’s not a man, Abbi. That’s Gadreel, he’s an angel and not a nice one. Is he alive?”

“I just said he was, or at least he was,” Abbi said.

“No, not Dean, Gadreel.”

“Oh, him. I don’t know. Sam, I’m coming out there. I’ll be there as quick as I can,” Abbi said.

“No, we are almost done here. We’ll be back soon. Stay where you are. I’m on my way back to Dean now. I’ll call you when I get there, k?”

“Promise?”

“Of course. And when I get back, we’ll talk about this dream of yours,” Sam told her.

“Sure, whatever. Just find Dean and call me.”

“I’m on it,” Sam told her and hung up the phone.

Abbi sat where she was for a few more minutes, then got up and began the chore of unloading the car and putting her groceries away.

After making herself something to eat and talking to Jake to give him directions for once he reached Lebanon, she settled in with more research. Since she realized she didn’t really know what type of signs she was looking for, she had books piled in front of her on the table that would help her to understand the Knights of Hell.  

It took only fifteen minutes of sitting still for her to slam the book she was reading closed. She wasn’t getting anywhere having read the same page three times and still not comprehending a thing she read. She was still anxious and her earlier panic attack had yet to fully subside. It was hovering just on the edges of her mind ready to strike again if she let down her guard and the longer it took for Sam to call, the stronger the pull was.

Considering her options, she concluded her best choice of action was to explore the Bunker. She may as well get to know her new home. Wandering around, she looked in every room. It was easy to tell which room as Dean’s and which was Sam’s.

_Could her brothers be any different?_ she wondered. Thinking of her own decorating style, she figured it was actually a combination of both of them. Books and such, like Sam, but she also had her weapons in there, like Dean. Smiling, she continued on. There were a lot of unused bedrooms. She was excited to find a firing range and intrigued by the large storage area full of boxes and boxes of things just waiting to be explored. The laboratory didn’t interest her much, but the antique computer made her laugh.

She had just decided to call Sam when her phone rang. Seeing it was Sam, she quickly answered it, “Dean?”

“No, wrong brother,” Sam chided.

“I know, I meant, how’s Dean?”

“He’s fine. We’re both good. We are on our way back,” Sam said. “Should be there by morning.”

“Okay,” she said relieved.

“How’s the research coming?” Sam asked.

“Nothing so far,” she answered. She wasn’t about to tell him she was slacking off.

“Keep your eye out for any systemic activity,” Sam said. “It is one of the things we noticed around Abaddon.”

“Will do,” she said. “Tell Dean I said to drive safe. I’ll see you guys in the morning.” She hung up and went back to the library. Not being able to settle down even after the reassuring call from her brother, she went into the kitchen and grabbed a beer.

It was quiet, too quiet. It seemed every move she made echoed off the walls. A feeling of loneliness swept through her.

“What the hell is wrong with me?” she asked out loud. “You would think I’ve never been alone before.” Trying to shake off the unwanted feeling, she began to throw something together for a dinner she wasn’t really sure she even wanted.

She went to bed early intending on getting up before her brothers and fixing them breakfast. She smelled the coffee as soon as she opened her door.

“Do they ever sleep?” she murmured to herself.

Entering the kitchen, she saw Dean sitting at the table. Her eyes immediately dropped to his bruised and battered hand.

“Morning,” she said tentatively. She wasn’t sure if Sam had told him about her call after she saw him beating Gadreel or not.

“Coffee’s hot.”

“Thanks.”

‘Okay, handle with care,’ her brain warned her as she sat down opposite him.

Caution laced her voice, as she asked, “When did you get in?”

“About a half-hour ago,” was the reply.

Abbi looked around before inquiring as to where Sam was. “In the shower. Why? You need him for something?”

“No, just wondering.” _Okay, when did she bring up the voicemail?_ she wondered. She knew she had to tell them about it, especially after her dream last night that her father was still alive and looking for her. “Are you hungry? I’ll make breakfast,” she said and got up and began to pull stuff out of the refrigerator.

“You cook?” Surprise laced Dean’s tone.

“Some. Enough not to starve to death.” She laughed. “Mom was a great cook, but I was more interested in being in the basement with Dad. He had all the cool stuff.”

“Cool stuff?” Dean asked as he got up to get another cup of coffee before joining her at the counter.

“Yeah. I could field strip a Sig Sauer P250, a Glock and a shotgun by the time I was nine. I was helping him make shotgun shells earlier than that.” She smiled at the memory. “It was Dad who thought of filling hollow points with dead man’s blood. Cooking didn’t compare with playing with Dad’s toys.”

“Guess not.” Dean smiled at her. “Wait, what the hell are those for?” he questioned as he saw her chopping green peppers.

“Omelets,” she replied. “Don’t worry, there is meat in there, too. Grab me a frying pan, will ya?” She began to crack eggs into a bowl.

Dean placed the frying pan on the stove. “Want me to do anything?”

“Um, you could grab some plates for us. These will only take a couple minutes and it is easier if the plates are right here as they are done. Oh, and I could use another cup of coffee.”

“Your wish is my command,” Dean said, bowing low as he backed away from her.

Laughter burst out of Abbi. When he backed into Sam knocking them both to the floor, she laughed even harder and soon tears were streaming down her face. Seeing them sprawling on the floor, a mass of tangled arms and legs, she was swamped with love for the both of them. She watched for a few moments as they tried unsuccessfully to extract themselves from each other before deciding to go over and help.

She reached down to grab Dean’s hand and immediately realized her mistake. Before she could step back, she found herself pulled down into the pile. At first, her fight or flight instincts took over and she kicked her feet at anything she could connect with. Hearing the grunts of pain, she reigned in her instincts and relaxed.

“Sorry,” she said. “Guess that was just instinct.”

“Instinct, huh? Well, I, for one, am glad you don’t have any shoes on,” Dean said as he rubbed his thigh.” He easily picked her up and moved her off to the side while Sam dislodged himself from the pile and stood.

“If playtime is over, maybe someone could take care of whatever that is smoking on the stove?” he said, pointing towards the billowing smoke coming from the frying pan.

“Shit,” Abbi said.

“Really? I thought you were cooking omelets,” Dean joked.

“Keep it up, Winchester, and you will be eating what’s currently blackening on the stove,” Abbi retorted as she stood and walked over to the stove.

Dean chuckled and standing went to make her coffee.         

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **From Season 9 Episode 18 – Meta-Fiction


	11. Stories, Voicemails and Brake Fluid

Breakfast was a light-hearted affair with the brothers telling Abbi some of their funniest stories of hunting. She told them some of hers. She cringed when they told her about their case in Oasis Plains, Oklahoma, that involved bugs. Laughed with Sam over Dean’s fear of a Yorkshire Terrier when he had Ghost sickness. Laughed equally as hard with Dean over Sam’s lost shoe.

“I think the worst experience I had was when we were called in about a fauth the had somehow found its way into Lake Tahoe.”

“A what? A vogue, like the magazine?” Sam asked.

Abbi chuckled. “It is actually spelled f-a-u-t-h, but that is how you say it. It is a Scottish water spirit. No idea how it was here. It kept turning boats loose from the docks and sinking ones out on the water for a day of fun. Nasty little creatures.”

"Never heard of them,” Dean said.

“It has a yellow a mane down its back, webbed toes, tails with spikes, and no nose. They tend to wear green.”

“What happened?” Sam asked, his interest peaked.

“Okay, think Lake Tahoe, mid-December, got the picture? It was cold, too damn cold to be out on the water hunting. Remember I said it capsizes boats? Well, we figured we would be safe in a bigger boat. We were wrong. I managed to lure it up close enough to the surface for my dad and mom to grab hold of it and drag it onto the wreckage of our rented boat. Of course, just as we did that, the sun went behind a cloud.” She shook her head. “I grabbed the railing that was just hanging on and pulled. A piece broke off and hoping against hope it was made of steel and not something else, I stabbed it. It worked.”

“So, you kill it with sunlight or steel?”

Nodding, Abbi continued, “I ended up with pneumonia, and spent a week in the hospital. Looking back now, I have to laugh at how we must have looked when we finally made it to shore. Wet and cold, but elated because we did what we needed to do. Dad had a hell of a time explaining what happened to the boat to the rental company.”

“We are going to have to compare notes, it seems you may have come across things we haven’t and vice versa,” Sam said.

“Yeah, sounds like a plan,” Abbi answered. At that moment, her phone chirped signaling a new voicemail. Her brow wrinkled as her phone didn’t even ring. Picking it up, she pushed the button to listen to the voicemail and her face turned white as a ghost.

“Abbi girl, what are you doing there?” That was it, just her father’s voice questioning her. She dropped the phone on the table as if it had burned her fingers.

“Abbi, what is it?” Dean’s voice seemed to come from far away.

“Abbi, who was it? What’s wrong?” Sam’s voice sounded muffled.

Shaking her head, she took several deep voices hoping to clear her head. “My father…” she choked out.

Dean and Sam looked at each other. Sam picked up her phone and replayed the message close to Dean so he could hear it as well.

“Abbi, honey, is this the first message you have gotten from him?” Sam asked gently.

Shaking her head, she told him about the one from yesterday morning. Sam retrieved that one, he and Dean listened to it as well.

“Think it is a crocotta?” Dean asked.

“No return number,” Sam said as he looked at the phone. “No timestamp, either for that matter. I mean, it could be, but I don’t know.”

“Crocotta? What’s that?”

“It’s a type of scavenger. It mimics loved ones to lure people by whispering ‘Come to me,’ then eats their soul. We dealt with one in Ohio.”

“But only my dad ever called me ‘Abbi girl’. How would it know that?”

“Good question,” Sam said. “Hey, we’ll figure this out.”

“Until we do, you go nowhere alone. This place is warded so you are completely safe right here. Nothing can get in that we don’t let in. You can’t even find this place by searching for it,” Dean said.

“You know, Dean. That’s a good point. How would the crocotta even get to her here?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know? Maybe it latched on to her when she was in Nebraska,” Dean said.

“Maybe,” Sam said, but Abbi could tell he wasn’t sold on the idea of a crocotta.

“Well, since we handled breakfast, I vote for Sam to do the clean-up,” Dean said.

“Just what did you do to help?” Sam asked. “From what I saw, Abbi made breakfast.”

It was the wink Dean gave her as Sam looked away from him to Abbi that had Abbi agreeing with him. “Dean did help, you just came in late and missed it.” She never lied very well and she had a feeling Sam knew she was lying now.

“Yeah, right,” Sam said as he looked back and forth between the two of them. “So, this is how it is, huh? Two against one, okay, fine. I’ll do the cleanup.”

“Great, come on, Warrior Princess, how ‘bout you show me some of your gun cleaning expertise?”

Sam heard the argument from the kitchen. He was just finishing up the dishes when the raised voices drew his attention. He followed the voices to the garage, where he could see numerous guns laid out on the workbench in various states of being disassembled.

“I’m telling you, it won’t work,” Dean’s raised voice was condescending.

“And I am telling you that it will,” Abbi retorted. “If you will just stop being so bullheaded and listen for a change.”

“Look, I’ve heard of some crazy things hunters have used to clean their guns, but that?” He pointed to the bottle of blue dishwashing soap she was holding. “That is just nuts.”

“It works, so does a vinegar and peroxide mix, and a few other household cleaners. Honestly, there is no reason to use that stuff. It stinks and why even bother?”

“Listen, _sweetheart_ , I’ve been cleaning guns since you were in diapers, I think I know a thing or two about it,” Dean said. “If brake cleaner was good enough for Dad, it’s good enough for me.” He reached out and picked up a can.

“Has anyone ever told you that you are the most infuriating man ever born?” Abbi asked.

“I’ve been called worse,” Dean said.

“I can certainly think of several things right now—”

“Um, hey guys?” Sam’s voice cut Abbi off. Both heads swung towards him. “Why don’t you each use whatever method you are comfortable with?”

“Because his _method_ stinks and I don’t feel like choking on the fumes of that damn spray,” Abbi responded.

“And I’m not trusting my life to some hair-brained idea she has,” Dean answered.

“Hair-brained? I’ve been cleaning my guns like this forever, never had a problem with one. It works, you are just too stubborn to try it.”

Dean was about to voice his opinion when Abbi’s phone rang. Seeing her go white, he glanced down at the phone on the workbench. “It’s Jake,” he told her.

Abbi grabbed the phone. “Hey, Jake. What’s up? Really, wow, you are making great time. Sure, see you in a couple hours. Drive safe…love you too.” She hung up the phone and noticed both of her brothers raised eyebrows.

“You’re not going anywhere…at least not alone,” Dean said.

“I’m not going anywhere,” she said. “Jake and Mick are coming here.”

“Hold on, what do you mean, coming here?” Dean asked.

“Just what I said, they are coming here. I asked them to bring me my stuff from my storage shed in Cali. They’ll be here in a few hours.”

“Your stuff?”

“Yes, my stuff. I mean, if I am going to be based here, then I may as well have all my stuff here, right?” She began to wonder if she misstepped. Perhaps they didn’t want her to move it. “That is unless you don’t want me moving in here.”

“Of course, we want you here,” Sam reassured her. “It’s just inviting someone here…”

“There okay. I’ve hunted with them several times over the past few years.”

“How did you meet them?” Dean asked, suspicious.

“I saved Jake from a werewolf who was about to kill him. Two months later, he pulled my butt out of the fire while I was chasing a Wendigo up on Mount Whitney. It was on that hunt, he met Mick.” She smiled. “They’ve been inseparable ever since. Since my parents died, they’ve been the closest thing I’ve had to a family.”

Dean looked like he was going to continue to argue, but Sam shook his head. “Okay then. But, no more inviting people here without checking with us, k? It is better to be safe than sorry,” he said.

“Sure, no problem,” she said. “It isn’t like I have many friends anyway. Actually, Jake and Mick are about it.”

“Now, can I leave you two alone or do you need me to stay and referee?” Sam asked.

“If he can see reason, then no problem,” Abbi said.

“And she calls me stubborn,” Dean retorted.

“Okay, okay, Dean, I hate to burst your bubble, but Abbi’s method is a proven method to clean guns,” Sam said.

Dean shook his head. “So? Just because some new age hippies are all ‘save the ozone’ doesn’t mean I should stop using what I know works,” Dean replied.

“Who said anything about new age crap and saving the ozone. What the hell are you talking about? Dean, look, just try it my way, huh? Can’t you even give it a chance?”

“A chance? Give it a chance when it could be Sam’s life on the line or yours? You expect me to try it when I don’t trust it?”

“I give up!” She threw her hands in the air. “Use what you want, just do it over there so the fumes are away from me.”

“See,” Dean started, smiling, “I knew she could be reasonable.”

He never saw the punch coming. It landed dead center in his midsection and had his breath rushing out. The second followed immediately and connected with his jaw. He stumbled back and tripped over the hose laying on the floor.

Laughter rang out from Sam. It was only Abbi’s cursing that had him stopping.

“Dammit, all to hell. I think your damn face broke my hand,” she told Dean.

Sitting on the floor, Dean looked up at her as he rubbed his jaw. “My face broke your hand? Oh, right, blame my face for getting in the way of your fist.” Torn between admiration and humiliation, Dean could only stare at the woman who was shaking her hand and wincing. “Hell of a right cross, you have there.”

“Yeah, well, comes in handy when faced with a stubborn, pig-headed older brother,” she retorted. “I’m going to ice this down. Please do NOT touch my guns. I’ll take care of them.” She turned and walked out of the garage, head held high.

“Hell of a right cross,” Dean repeated and laid back on the garage floor while Sam started laughing again.


	12. Revealing but Embarrassing Stories

She called Jake from the car on the way back to the Bunker to find out where he was. “Hey, Jake, where you at? Yeah, that’s right. No, you’re at the right spot, we’ll be there soon…I’ll explain when we get there, k? No, nothing’s wrong, just had to…um…go somewhere and it took longer than expected…Jake, don’t push, I’ll explain everything when we get there. All right, see you in a few.”

She threw her phone into her purse and slid forward to lean on the front seat of the car. “You know, this whole trip was a waste of time,” she told her brothers. “I mean—”

“Abbi, you broke two fingers, three bones in your hand and severely sprained your wrist. You want to tell me how going to the hospital was a waste of time?” Sam asked.

“Because, I have a hand brace in my bag. I could’ve just put that on and been just fine.” She was proud of her argument.

“True, but broken bones need to be set by a professional. And, just what would you have done in a few hours when the shock wore off and the pain set in?” Sam tried to sound reasonable.

They had been arguing over the merits of going to the hospital for hours. She had refused to go. Dean took one look at her hand, picked her up, and put her in the Impala telling her to shut up when she started to argue.

“I would have drunk some of that whiskey you have and gone to sleep, no problem.” She was proud of her solution. She saw the identical shakes of her brothers’ heads and looks of exasperation on their faces. “It doesn’t matter anyway, now does it. You got your way, and I have this _lovely_ cast to show for it.”

“I’ll drop you both off, and then go on a pizza run,” Dean said.

“I forgot the beer yesterday, sorry,” Abbi said.

“No problem. I’ll grab some,” Dean answered her. “Not that it matters, you’re not having any with the meds they pumped into you.”

“Whatever,” she mumbled and sat back in the seat. Truth be told, her hand hurt like a son of a bitch and she wanted nothing more than to down a couple more pain pills and sleep. But, she had to deal with Jake and Mick before she could escape into blissful slumber.

Off to the side of the road as they approached the garage entrance sat a rental truck. Dean slowed. “What the hell?”

Looking out the windshield, Abbi saw what grabbed his attention. “It’s okay, it is only Jake and Mick. Let me out,” she said.

“Not,” Dean said, shaking his head. “Sam…”

“On it,” was all that Sam said as he hopped out of the car. Before she could get her door opened, Dean hit the gas and they were in the garage.

“Dean, I swear, I am going to…”

“You are going to do nothing except get your ass in the Bunker. We don’t know who or what is calling your phone and I’m not taking any chances. Now, MOVE!”

Abbi knew from his tone not to argue. She figured Jake and Mick could take care of themselves. Besides, while they were dealing with them, she could take a quick nip of hunter’s helper. Smiling to herself, she headed into the Bunker.

It was fifteen minutes later when Sam, Jake, and Mick came in. “Dean went for pizza,” Sam told her.

“Abs, what in the hell did you do? You run into trouble on your way back here?” Mick asked her when he saw her cast.

“No, not on the way back. My fist ran into an immovable force.”

“Punching walls again?” Jake teased her as he cuffed her on the shoulder.

“No, my brother,” Abbi said and then laughed when both Jake and Mick turned and glared at Sam.

Sam threw his hands up in front of him. “Whoa, not this brother,” he said quickly.

“What did he do?” Mick asked.

“It’s okay, honest. Nothing but a brother-sister disagreement. It’s over and done with. No need for you to protect my honor,” she reassured them.

“If you’re sure…” Jake said.

“I’m sure,” Abbi said firmly. “So, come on, let me get you guys a beer and you can tell me about what you’ve been up to. We didn’t have much time to play catch-up the other day.”

Once Dean came back, the five of them spent the next several hours eating pizza and drinking beer, except for Abbi who had been given a bottle of soda by Dean along with a warning look not to protest. They shared stories of their hunting experiences and unfortunately for Abbi, Jake and Mick were only too happy to share a few more embarrassing moments of Abbi’s hunting experiences.

“Hey, the whole chupacabra thing wasn’t my fault,” Abbi protested. “If Mick hadn’t tripped and fallen into me…”

“Your gun wouldn’t have gone off and I wouldn’t have been shot in the leg?” Jake asked. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, heard it all before.”

“Jake…”

Jake smiled. “Abs, I forgave you a long time ago for it. Hell, it all worked out okay, didn’t it? It got this one to realize he loved me, so it’s all good.”

“Glad I could help,” Abbi said, pouting.

“But, just a warning for you two, she has a very quick trigger finger.” Jake’s voice was very serious. He waited a few heartbeats before laughing. “And, one other thing, she is clumsy. Have you ever met anyone who trips going up stairs? Or just walking across a leave covered path?”

“No, please Jake, don’t,” Abbi pleaded.

Dean and Sam looked from Jake to Abbi then back again. “Oh, I think we need to hear this one,” Dean said as Abbi groaned.

“No, you really don’t,” she protested.

“If they are going to be out with you hunting…” Mick said.

“Yeah, we need to know these things,” Dean encouraged.

“We were hunting a gumberoo just outside Monterey.” At the looks of confusion on the brothers’ faces, Jake explained, “A gumberoo is a nearly hairless bearlike creature that lives along the Pacific coast in the forests there. Its skin or hide, if you will, is rubbery and anything thrown at it bounces off. This includes bullets. Fire kills it. It actually explodes.”

Mick picked up the story. “So, we had tracked it to its cave and set up a trap for it while it was out hunting. It was all set, we were going to trap it in the cave and set the cave on fire, we didn’t want to start a fire out in the open, can’t have us be the cause of a forest fire.”

“That would be bad,” Jake added.

Nodding his agreement, Mick continued, “So, Abs here, was at the furthest point in the stakeout watching for it.”

Abbi groaned, knowing what was to come laid her head down on the table.

“She heard something coming from her right and thinking it was the gumberoo, left her spot to go and see. What was it, Abs? A squirrel?”

“A raccoon,” came Abbi’s muffled voice.

“Anyway, realizing her mistake, she started back quickly to the spot she was supposed to be. All Jake and I heard was the crack of her shotgun firing and we knew she was in trouble.”

“She tripped over nothing—”

“It wasn’t _nothing_ ,” Abbi exclaimed whipping her head up, “there was a fallen branch there. I told you, the gumberoo picked it up and threw it.”

“Sure Abs, whatever you say.” The disbelief was clear in Jake’s voice. He picked up the story, “Abs forgot you couldn’t fire at these things and fired her shotgun at it. She’s damn lucky she wasn’t closer to it when she shot.”

“The sound was enough to scare it off, but Abbi ended up with a sprained wrist and ankle as well as being peppered by some of the buckshot.”

“By the time we got there,” Jake said, “she was trying to stand and cursing worse than a sailor.” Jake patted Abbi on the back. “Wicked mouth this one has,” he added.

“Wait,” said Sam, “if the gumberoo picked up the branch you tripped over, then it was pretty damn close to you.”

“Spotted the flaw in her story, have you?” said Mick. “Anyway, she’s got blood running down her face, and spreading across her chest. I’m not ashamed to tell you, it was that which had my heart nearly stopping.”

“Yeah, that’s when I almost died for the second time in as many minutes,” Abbi said. “This big goof throws me onto the ground and starts to rip open my shirt. And that is how I ended up with the concussion.”

“Abbi, you were _bleeding_ , blood was spreading across your chest. Anyone would have panicked,” Mick argued.

“I was fine, if nothing else should’ve told you that, my, shall we say, my outrage at losing the gumberoo should’ve.”

“So, what happened?” Dean asked.

“We didn’t know if we the gumberoo would return to its cave or not, but we all headed back there to wait. It was decided that it was better if we just stuck together since Abbi was hurt. It was nearing dusk when it showed up. We managed to execute our plan and kill it, then get Abbi out and patched up.” Jake smiled.

“But, lesson learned…Abbi is a klutz.” Mick added.

“And she shoots when she knows it won’t work,” Dean said. “That’s always good to know.”

“Look, if this is just going to be a ‘pick on Abbi’ fest, I’m going to bed,” she said getting up and putting her glass in the sink. “I’m sure my brothers can direct you to bedrooms to sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Was it something we said?” Mick asked, hurt in his voice clear.

“I don’t think so,” Sam said as he rubbed his hand. “I think she is in a lot of pain and just didn’t want to admit to it. I’ll go check on her, make sure she takes something for it.”

Abbi slammed her bedroom door. She thought about locking it but realized there was no lock on the door. “Dammit,” she said and kicked the door. She quickly got ready for bed.

The knock was soft but she heard it clearly. “Go away,” she said.

“Nope, no can do,” said Sam as he opened the door. “Brought you these.” He held up a pill bottle shaking it as he did. “Thought you could use a couple of them.”

“How’d you know?”

Sam tossed her the bottle and again rubbed his hand. “I just do,” he said.

Abbi noticed him rubbing his hand. “Can you feel it? My pain, I mean?”

Sam flexed his fingers as he looked at his hand. “Yeah,” he said simply. “A twin thing?”

“Interesting,” Abbi answered as she opened the bottle and shook out a couple pain pills. She was turning to get a glass of water when she saw Sam was already at the sink getting her one. “Sam, I think we need to explore this more. I mean, if we have a connection because we are twins, it could come in handy.”

“It could,” Sam said as he moved over to her and handed her the glass of water, “but, let’s keep it just between you and me, for now. Dean…well, Dean gets a bit freaked out over things like this.”

“Why?”

“Long story, bad memories,” Sam said and held up a hand when he saw Abbi was going to protest. “I’ll tell you all about it, just not tonight. Tonight, you need to take your medicine and get some sleep. This is not a pleasant bedtime story.”

“I never liked _pleasant_ bedtime stories. I prefer the scary ones,” she said as she climbed into bed. “Will you tell me a bedtime story, Sam?”

“Okay, but you have to just listen, no questions. I want you to go to sleep,” Sam responded.

“I’ll do my best,” she said and she patted the spot on the bed next to her. Sam sat down and leaned against the headboard. Abbi curled up on his chest.

“Ready?” he asked as he wrapped an arm around her.  At her nod, he continued, “I’m going to tell you about a case we worked involving a vengeful spirit on Route 666 in Missouri.”

Abbi made it to the end of the story, but it was close. As Sam told her about the truck disappearing on the grounds of the old church, her eyes closed and didn’t reopen. Sam stayed where he was for a few minutes before carefully sliding out of the bed, placing Abbi’s head gently on the pillow. He stood for another few minutes and just watched her sleeping before leaving the room.


	13. The Broken Glass and Wet Shirt

_”Abbi girl…come on, wake up now. We’ve got hunting to do.” Her father’s voice called to her from downstairs._

_“Coming, Dad!” she yelled back as she threw off her blankets. Looking at her clock, she noted it was only four in the morning._

_Rushing down the steps ten minutes later, she found her parents standing in the kitchen drinking coffee. “Where are we going? What are we hunting?” she asked, her voice husky. She grabbed her favorite travel mug and fixed herself coffee to take with her._

_“We’re headed to Kansas,” her father told her. “We’re hunting a hunter who has gone bad.”_

_She saw the looks exchanged by her parents. “Who?” she asked._

_“Sam Winchester,” her mother replied._

“NO!” Her scream echoed off the wall of her bedroom as she sat straight up in bed. She was shaking uncontrollably and gasping for air. She heard the running feet and her door crashed open. Standing, silhouetted in the light from the hallway, were both Sam and Dean guns drawn.

“Abbi? What is it? Was someone here?” Sam asked her as he rushed over to her.

She shook her head and murmured, “No, nightmare, just a nightmare.”

“Let me guess,” Dean said, “big black truck?”

Shaking her head, Abbi sighed heavily. “No, nothing like that. I’m fine now. You can go back to bed.” She didn’t want to talk about her nightmare, and she knew if they stayed, they would press and she would break and tell them.

“We weren’t in bed, yet,” Dean said.

“If you’re sure,” Sam said, sounding doubtful. “I’m just across the hall if you need me.”

She nodded her understanding, laid back down and closed her eyes, hoping they would get the hint and leave. She knew it would be a bit before she would fall back to sleep, but she wasn’t going to tell them that.

She waited five minutes before sitting up again. Reaching over, she turned on the light on the nightstand. Her eyes adjusted quickly and she got out of bed. Her old duffle bag was sitting next to the dresser on the floor and it was for that she reached. Inside, she found just what she was looking for, a small bottle of whiskey. Pain pills were great, but they only worked on the pain. She wanted something more.

She tossed the bottle onto her bed so she could refill her glass with water. She really would have liked some soda, but didn’t know if her brothers had gone to bed and she wasn’t taking a chance on running into them to go and get some. She downed two of the pain pills with some of the water, set the almost full glass on the nightstand, and then climbed back into bed.

There wasn’t much left in the whiskey bottle, just a couple shots. She figured it was enough to help her to sleep. She finished what there was and threw the bottle in the drawer of her dresser out of sight. Abbi felt her eyes getting heavy, so she turned off her light and fell back to sleep, hoping against hope for the dreamless sleep whiskey usually brought.

Abbi woke in the morning to male voices and things being moved about in the room next to hers. Throat dry, she reached for the glass of water she left on her nightstand and found no glass. Confused, she looked around. Unable to find it, she got out of bed. Finally, she found it, in the sink smashed into small pieces.

“What the hell?” She walked over and sat back down on the bed trying to remember if she had woken during the night. 'No', she thought, 'I didn’t wake up. I was in the same position as I fell asleep in. So, what happened to that glass?'

There was a loud bang and cursing from the next room that got her curiosity aroused. She dressed quickly and went to find out just what was going on. What she found was not what she expected. Boxes were everywhere. No rhyme or reason to them, just stacked against the walls haphazardly, some of the stacks looking like they were about to fall over. But no one was there.

“Ouch,” she cried out when someone knocked into her sending her sprawling forward. She barely remained on her feet, only doing so by catching herself on a stack of boxes.

“Oh, sorry, Abs, didn’t see you there,” came Jake’s voice from behind the boxes carried in his arms. He placed them down on top of a short stack of boxes opposite where she was. “We’re almost done unloading the truck,” he explained. “Did we wake you?”

“Yeah, but it’s okay, I had to get up anyway,” she said. “Who was just in here?” she asked, curious as to who she heard cursing.

“Um, I think it was Dean. I heard him grumbling something about how your lazy ass should be out of bed and helping as I was coming down the hall.”

“Fat lot of good I can be with this,” she retorted, holding up her cast.

“Oh, the _Princess_ has decided to grace us with her presence. Give me a moment to put these boxes down so I can bow, Your Highness,” Dean said as he entered the room.

“Screw you, Dean,” she told him.

“First of all,” he said as he set the boxes down, “yuck, you’re my sister. Second of all, even if you weren’t, you’re not my type.”

“Oh, really? And just what is your

“A quick no ties, no happily ever after pickup in a bar,” Sam answered her.

“Hey now,” Dean objected. “They don’t have to come from a bar.”

Abbi couldn’t take it anymore, she started laughing. “Oh my God, you two are too much,” she managed to get out. “I needed that this morning.” The words were out before she could stop them.

Concern lacing his voice, Sam asked, “Why did something else happen last night?”

Abbi hesitated, “No, yes, I don’t know.”

“Well, that clears things up,” Dean commented.

Sam shot him a look that clearly told him to back off. “Abbi, what’s going on?”

She focused on Sam because she felt he would understand quickest. “I’m not sure what happened. It’s easier to show you.” She took his hand and led him out of the room and into her bedroom with the others trailing behind. She didn’t even notice Mick had joined them.

Pointing to the broken glass in the sink, she explained, “I filled this last night after my nightmare and left it on my nightstand. I know I didn’t wake up during the night because I was in the same position when I woke up as I was when I fell asleep.”

“Dean…” Sam looked at his brother.

“Yeah, sure,” Dean said and left the room, returning a minute later with a small black box she instantly recognized. As soon as he walked in the room, it began to light up red and beep.

“I’d say we have a ghost in the house,” Sam said.

“Kevin?” Dean asked.

“I’ll call Mrs. Tran, but I doubt it. Why would he be in here?” Sam said. “Abbi, have you noticed anything else weird?”

“Um, no, not that I can think of…Wait, my beer the other night. Remember, when we were on the phone and I said I didn’t remember drinking it but yet it was empty. Maybe I didn’t drink it,” she said.

“I haven’t noticed anything. Have you?” Dean asked Sam. Sam shook his head. “Okay, so then it seems it may just be centered on Abbi. Now, we just have to figure out who and why.”

“A ghost? Haunting me? Seriously? Isn’t this just wonderful?” Abbi said. “I can’t deal with this right now.” She turned and walked out of her room leaving the four men staring after her.

Abbi went directly to the kitchen hoping there was coffee. Sitting at the table, she didn’t even turn when she heard the footsteps behind her. “Sam, I’m not really in the mood to talk yet.”

“Wrong brother,” Dean answered, grabbing the chair opposite her and after turning it backward straddled it. “Listen, kid, we’ll figure this out. We just have to figure out who it is first. Any ideas? Because I have one and honestly, I think you do too.”

Her face ashen, she looked at him with tears in her eyes. “Oh, baby, don’t do that to me,” Dean whispered as he stood and went over to her. Scooping her up, he sat down with her on his lap. “It’s okay, honest. It happens to the best of us.”

The warmth of his embrace broke her. Tears fell unbidden down her face as she wept into his shoulder. Emotions she had bottled up for so long poured out of her. She didn’t see Sam and the other come into the kitchen only to have Dean shake his head at them signaling them to leave again.

Dean held and comforted her talking softly to her. He waited until her crying slowed, and then began telling her about Bobby and everything that happened. By the time he finished, she was quiet.

“Better?” he asked.

She nodded against his shirt. “Good. Now, think you are up to talking about why your father is here?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “I gave him a hunter’s funeral, both him and Mom, I just don’t get it. How can he be here?”

“Do you have something of his? Something he can be attached to? Like Bobby attached himself to his flask.”

“I have all his weapons, and such, but if it is one of them, why now? I’ve been using them since…since…well since they died.”

“It is probably something more personal. I’m not saying it isn’t one of them, but maybe something you just recently found that you forgot you had,” Dean suggested.

Thinking for a moment, Abbi sat up in Dean’s arms exclaiming, “His wallet. I completely forgot I had it until the other night when I got back from Nebraska. I found it at the bottom of the old duffle in my room and pulled it out. It’s on my nightstand.”

“Okay, that sounds like a good possibility.” He reached out and picked up her coffee and handed it to her. “Now, there are two ways we can handle this, wait and see or burn the wallet straight off, your choice.”

“My choice? Don’t you just want to get rid of it? You’re willing to just do _nothing_ if that is what I want?”

“As long as it isn’t causing any issues, then I see nothing wrong with the wait and see approach.”

“Okay, then, wait and see it is.” She smiled at him. “Um, Dean?”

“Hmm?”

“I think you need to change your shirt, this one is pretty wet,” she said as she brushed her hand over the area where her face had been resting during her crying jag.

“Figures,” he muttered as he carefully stood and set her on her feet.

As he was about to walk away, she called to him and went over and standing on her toes, kissed his cheek. “Thank you.” She turned her back to him and went back to the table so she didn’t see the look of love cross his face.


	14. Family Road Trip

Jake and Mick left later that day once they were assured by both Sam and Dean that Abbi was in no danger and they would take care of the ghost issue. Abbi promised to call them if things got dicey.

Sweat soaked Abbi’s shirt as she opened another box. She didn’t realize she had kept so much stuff and looking around, she had no idea what to do with most of it. The books were easy, she would just add them to the library. Weapons, she moved to her room as she did with the clothes she found. It was the other things, the things that had nothing to do with hunting and everything to do with her parents and home.

Hand aching and emotionally raw from seeing so many things from her childhood, she decided a break was in order. Since she was currently sporting a cast she couldn’t take off for a hunt, she figured it was probably best to get in some target practice so she would know exactly how this thing would hamper her.

Though she had told Dean to leave her guns alone, he hadn’t listened and she found all of them cleaned and placed neatly in her room after her shower this morning with a note that read:

               _Even a Warrior Princess needs help now and again._

She didn’t know whether to be upset he didn’t listen or to just take it for what it was, a simple helpful gesture. Abbi decided to go with the latter. She retrieved a couple of her pistols and her shotgun as well as the ammo for them and then headed to the shooting range.

It was there Sam found her three hours later. “Dinner’s ready,” he told her once he got her attention. “Dean said to tell you to take a break and come and eat.”

Heaving a heavy sigh, Abbi put down her gun wincing as she did so. “Sure, I guess I did enough for today. My hand won’t be an issue as long as I use a smaller weapon,” she told him. “I still need to see if it will hold a knife and if it will, exactly what I can do with it.”

“Not tonight,” Sam said. He noticed her wince when she put down the gun. “You’re in pain and need to give that hand a rest. I still can’t believe you did so much damage to it just hitting Dean’s jaw and nothing to him.”

“Don’t remind me, but to tell the truth,” she said as she again flexed her fingers, “his face only rebroke old fractures and breaks.”

Sam raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “Anger issues?”

“First time—”

“First time? You broke it more than once?” Sam asked.

“Twice, first time was after my parents died and I thought punching a cement wall was the answer.” She shook her head. “Turns out, physical pain doesn’t take away emotional pain. Second time, demon threw me tossed me through a wall, I put my hands out and well…” She held up her casted hand.

“All the more reason to take a break and give that hand a rest,” Sam said.  

Nodding, Abbi started to pick up her weapons, but Sam laid a hand on hers. “Leave them. We can get them later.”

“Sure,” she agreed. As they walked out of the room, Sam put his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. Instinctively, she wrapped her arm around his waist and they walked together to the kitchen.

Dinner was again filled with stories of previous hunts. It was during their telling of the trip back in time to visit Samuel Colt that Abbi’s mind focused in on one aspect of the story.

“You got the information from a book at the Campbell library?” she asked.

“Yeah, we found Samuel Colts’ journal there. Why?” Sam asked.

“What about the rest of the stuff in there? Is it still there?”

“Most of it,” Dean answered as he stood and started clearing the table. “We took some of the books back to Bobby’s, but when his place was burned down, they were lost.”

“Well…we are all Campbells, that stuff is ours by rights, so I say, we go and get it. You never know what may come in handy.” She watched as the brothers looked at each other and could sense they were having some sort of silent communication between them.

Shrugging his shoulders, Sam said, “Why not? There may be nothing there that we don’t have here, but who knows, we may find something useful.”

“Sure, we can leave in the morning,” Dean said. “Family trip to Michigan.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Abbi said, smiling. “One thing, though, who’s driving?”

Dean looked like she had just committed the worst sin in the world. “What do you mean, _who is driving?_ ” Since we will be taking my car, I guess that means, I am.”

Abbi opened her mouth to argue, but Sam shook his head forestalling her. “Leave it,” he whispered to her. She made a face at him but nodded. “What time do you want to leave?”

“It’s about thirteen hours to Lansing, so the earlier the better,” Sam answered.

“Why don’t we just leave tonight? We can be there by morning,” Abbi said. The thought of retrieving all of the things her father had been kept from by virtue of his fight with his brother was exciting.

“Because I need a few hours sleep after today’s workout,” Dean told her.

Abbi didn’t argue, she could tell it would be useless anyway. Glancing at the clock, she figured she could get a few hours of knife practice in before bed. “Hey, you guys don’t have a dummy around here, do you?”

“Besides Dean, you mean?” Sam asked snickering.

“Hey now,” Dean objected, but he was smiling.

“What do you need a dummy for?” Sam asked.

“I want to see what this hand can do with a knife,” she explained.

“Well, practicing with something that doesn’t fight back would do you no good,” Dean said. “Give me five and I’ll practice with you.”

Sam saw the gleam in Dean’s eyes and quickly interjected, “We’ll _both_ practice with you. After all, it will do us all some good to know what the other fights like.”

Abbi nodded. She had hoped if they didn’t have a dummy she could practice with, then Sam would be the one to offer. Although she had to admit, Sam’s theory on knowing each others fighting style was a sound one, so she agreed.

Arm aching, Abbi crawled into bed three hours later, after taking a very hot shower. She set her alarm for five and took two of her pain pills. She was asleep within minutes. She didn’t stir when Sam slipped in to check on her or when Dean came in and poured salt all around the edges of her room. He took her father’s wallet with him when he left the room.

Abbi sat in the backseat of the Impala dozing. She woke up to her hand hurting as much as it had when she first broke it. She reluctantly took a couple pain pills before she could even get dressed. Now, as a result, she could barely keep her eyes open. Somewhere between awake and asleep, she tried to follow the conversation going on between Dean and Sam.

“Even with the cast, she is one hell of a fighter,” Sam said.

“She can’t go up against vamps like that. She may think she can, but that arm just doesn’t have the strength needed, right now.”

“So, no vamp hunts for her. You want to tell her that since it seems to be her personal mission to rid the world of every single one of them.”

“Revenge…strong motivator, but Sammy, you know as well as I do what going into a fight you aren’t ready for will cost you,” Dean answered.

Abbi wasn’t sure if she dozed off or there was a break in the conversation. She thought she must have fallen asleep because the subject had changed.

“…could be someone’s already cleared it out,” Dean said.

“Maybe, but I doubt it. I don’t know if any other Campbells even know it existed or if they do, where it is.”

“Well, we’ll find out in another couple hours,” Dean said.

“ Yeah. Listen, I think we should pack it up and head back tonight. No sense hanging around.”

“What is it?” Dean’s voice sounded worried.

“Don’t know, just…”

Abbi opened her eyes a tiny bit in time to see Sam glance back at her, a frown on his face.

“I have this Poughkeepsie kind of feeling,” Sam answered.

“Sam, if this is going to be bad, I’m turning this car around now,” Dean said.

“No, I just don’t think we should hang around there any longer than we need to.”

“Uh huh. Quick in and out then,” Dean replied.

Abbi felt someone shaking her gently. “Hey, sleepy head, time to wake up.”

“Coffee,” she murmured. She heard Dean chuckling as she opened her eyes to see Sam holding a take-out cup to her. “Where are we?”

“Campbell compound,” Dean answered as he opened his door. “Let’s get this done.”

“What’s his problem?” she asked Sam. But Sam didn’t answer her, he just got out and followed Dean towards the door leaving Abbi to scramble to catch up.

It took the better part of four hours to get everything into the Impala. It would have taken less time, but none of them had thought about bringing boxes which meant Dean had to go in search of some while Sam and Abbi sorted through the stuff in the library.

It was around midnight when Abbi’s phone rang. They were sitting in a diner outside Lansing fueling up with greasy food and coffee for the trip home.

Recognizing the number, she was smiling as she answered, “Uncle Earl! What’s up? How you been?” She listened for a minute before responding, “Right this minute? A diner just outside Lansing…yeah, I know, I should have called, things just happened so fast…South Bend? Seriously? Yeah…I got it, don’t worry. I know, I remember…Okay, I’ll call you when it’s done. Love you too.” She hung up the phone and looked at her brothers, “Anyone up for a revenant hunt?”

On the way to South Bend, Abbi told them everything she knew about revenants. She explained she had gone on a hunt with her father’s best friend, Earl about eighteen months ago and came across one.

“Neither of us had ever run into one and we couldn’t reach my dad, so Uncle Earl called this other hunter he knew, Garth to ask him what to do,” Abbi told them.

“Wait, Garth?” Dean asked. “When was this?”

“Um, I guess November of 2012, or thereabouts,” she told him.

“Don’t you remember, Sam? That case in Missouri with the spectre and the old coin?”

“Oh yeah, Garth was getting phone calls for advice the whole time we were there,” Sam said.

“Wait, you guys know Garth?” Abbi asked. “What’s he like? And where the hell is he? I tried calling him a while back and got no answer.”

She saw the look that passed between the brothers and sighed. “No, not Garth,” she murmured.

“No, no,” Sam quickly reassured her. “He’s not dead. He’s…he’s given up the life.”

“That’s one way to put it,” Dean interjected. Abbi noted the look Sam gave Dean.

“He got married and he’s happy,” Sam said.

“What aren’t you telling me?” Abbi pressed. “I know you are holding something back, Sam. What is it?”

“Garth is a werewolf,” Dean said bluntly.

“Dean!”

“A werewolf…seriously?” Abbi didn’t know what to say to this news. She had only talked to Garth a few times, but she liked him. He was one of the first to call her after her parents were killed. It was several minutes later when she asked, “But he is okay? He’s happy?”

“Yeah, he’s happy and living on animal hearts,” Dean answered her.

It was two in the morning when Dean pulled into a motel parking lot outside South Bend. Sam took care of getting their rooms, while she and Dean grabbed stuff from the trunk. She was surprised to see her weapons in the trunk alongside theirs. She hadn’t thought about them when they left the Bunker but obviously one of her brothers had.

She reached in and slid the brown duffle bag towards her. Unzipping it, she pushed aside the weapons on top until she found what she was looking for at the bottom. She pulled out a handful of silver spikes. “These are what we need to use,” she said as she held them out to Dean.

Dean nodded and took them from her. “These all you got?”

She looked at the spikes in his hand and dug back into her bag coming up with three more. “That’s all I have.” She handed them to Dean, who put them in the weapon compartment.

Sam came back with the keys to two adjoining rooms. Abbi followed them into their room before going to her own for a few hours sleep before they began their hunt.


	15. A Fight Gone Awry and A Fight Avoided

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Abbi lost the fight about going to the coroner’s office. By a unified agreement, her brothers told her that a _real_ FBI agent wouldn’t be out in the field with an arm in a cast. While she disagreed with them, she was overruled and was stuck doing research. It didn’t take long for her to discover the link between the three bodies found or the likely suspect in the killings. There was one other person that she could see at risk.

By the time her brothers returned, Abbi had a plan as well as additional information on killing them. She knew where the revenant was buried and figured with any luck, they could take care of it quickly. She told them what she found out and they made a plan to go to the cemetery later that night. First, though, they needed to make sure the possible victim was safe. It was decided Sam would go and talk to him and convince him to get out of town for a few days. While he was gone, Abbi and Dean went over the plan.

Sam came back to report that Mr. Jeffers was on his way to a friend’s house in New York. It hadn’t taken much convincing on Sam’s part to get him to leave. At dusk, they headed to the cemetery to take care of the revenant.

Digging a grave was dirty work. Abbi offered to help and was instantly and in perfect unison told no by her brothers. She didn’t want to admit to them that she was thankful they said no. She didn’t think her hand could take any more strain. Leaning against a nearby headstone, Abbi kept watch for anything out of the ordinary. When she heard one of the shovels hit something hard, she moved over to stand by the hole.

Dean climbed out to make room for Sam to open the coffin. Each of them had silver spikes in their pockets. The lid opened easily, however, the inside was empty.

“Damn,” she said. At that moment, there was a sound behind her and she whipped around just in time to duck the blow aimed at her head. The shot rang out from behind her and she knew Dean had taken it. She saw the revenant stumbled back with the force of the bullet, but he didn’t go down. It only seemed to anger him. She barely had time to slip down into the hole with Sam as it charged again.

Sam lifted her quickly out the other side and followed behind her while Dean continued firing to slow the creature down. “Get behind me,” he told her.

Knowing arguing could get all of them killed, she moved quickly to obey, but as she did, she saw the attack coming from behind them. “There are more!”

They were surrounded by an additional four revenants. She pulled out two spikes and holding one in each hand, backed up until she felt one of her brothers at her back. “Dean, put the gun away, we have to spike them…just don’t get bit.”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dean slid his gun into his pocket as he pulled out spikes with the other. She hoped Sam had done the same because they were about to be attacked. Five on three weren’t great odds, but it was a hell of a lot better than it would have been if she was alone. Taking a deep breath, she let the calm of the hunt come over her and braced for the attack.

It was evident from the beginning that they viewed her as less of a threat than Dean and Sam. The group split off as one came for her while the others split up evenly to take on her brothers.

As the revenant approached, she crouched. When it was within striking range, she swung her leg out and took it down. Immediately, she jumped on top of it and drove the spike through its heart. Blood splattered across her hand, but it didn’t stop her. She reached around and pulled her long knife from its place against her back and cleanly removed the creature’s head.

Jumping up, she looked at the battles going on around her. Both of her brothers were under attack by two revenants apiece. Since Dean was closest, she turned and headed towards him. A quick swing of her blade separated one of the revenant’s head from its shoulders. As it fell, she dropped to her knees to drive a spike through its heart. By this time, Dean had dealt with the other, following her lead, he also had removed his opponent’s head.

They stood and moved as one to the fight still going on with Sam. It took less than ten seconds for that fight to be over once they joined it.

“Now what?” asked Sam as he looked at the headless bodies around him.

“We drop them all in that deep hole over there, drench them with holy oil, and burn them,” she said.

They made short work of gathering the remains and tossing them into the already dug hole. After Dean doused the bodies with the oil, Abbi threw in the lit match. The watched as the remains burned to ash before the work of filling in the hole began. Once accomplished, the three of them piled into the Impala and headed back to the motel to shower and change before going to dinner.

Having decided to stay over for the night and get a fresh start in the morning, they debated on what to do for the night. After some discussion, it was agreed upon to relax at the local bar for a few hours. The only public place Abbi had ever gone to with her brothers was diners, so she was looking forward to a new experience.

It took less than a half-hour for her to realize going out with brothers was different from going out with friends like Jake and Mick. It started when she went to the bar to get a round of drinks and started a conversation with the cute guy sitting there. Within half a minute, Dean was by her side, his arm slung over her shoulder.

“Hey Princess, what’s taking so long?” Dean asked innocently. “Is this guy bothering you?”

“No,” she said, trying in vain to slide out from Dean’s arm. “We were just talking.”

“Dude, we were just talking. I didn’t realize she was here with anyone,” the man quickly told Dean.

“I’m not,” Abbi said, “this is my brother.”

“Um, okay, sure. Well, my friends just came in. Nice meeting you.” The man grabbed his drink and moved away.

Abbi turned her head towards Dean to berate him for barging in when she saw what had probably scared the guy away. Standing next to Dean was Sam, arms crossed over his chest.

“Seriously, guys? I can’t believe the two of you,” she said and grabbed her drink before stalking back to their table. It wasn’t until she sat down and looked back to see where they were that she saw Sam approaching while Dean was still at the bar chatting with the bartender, the very pretty and blond bartender.

As Sam sat down, she nodded her head towards Dean, “I guess what’s good for the goose, isn’t good for the gander.”

Sam looked back at Dean. “Bar, alcohol, hot chick, typical Dean,” he said.

“Not on my watch,” she said, smiling and before Sam could stop her, she was out of her seat and across the room to Dean.

“Hey, you coming back to _our_ table, hon?” she said in a sugary voice as she wrapped an arm around Dean and snuggled in close to him.

Dean just closed his eyes and lowered his head, shaking it as he did. “Guess so,” he said as he saw the dirty look the bartender gave him before she walked away. On the way back to the table, he said, “Touché.”

The next eye-opening experience came when Dean asked her if she played pool. She told him she did, but not very well. In truth, she was an excellent pool player, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. During the first game, she could tell Dean was holding back, so she purposely held back even more and lost the game. She wanted him to break on the next one. She only hoped he wouldn’t run the table, so she could.

He started to, but then missed an easy shot which she suspected he did on purpose. Not one to miss an opportunity, or lose the fifty bucks riding on this game, she ran out the table. Abbi saw the truth dawn on Dean’s face when he racked for the next game.

“Double or nothing?” he asked.

“Sure,” she said. Five balls in, she missed a shot. Dean didn’t look back, he ran out the table.

“Never try to con a con artist,” he told her. “I’ve been running this scam since you were in grade school, kid. I never lose. But, I have to admit, you are good.” He picked up the money and ruffled her hair. “Next round is on me.”

As they walked away from the table, she didn’t notice the looks the guys closest to the pool table were giving her, but Dean did. When they got back to the table, he said, “Let’s get a couple six-packs to go and move this out of here.”

Sam looked questioningly at him and he indicated the guys by the pool table with a nod of his head. “Sure, sounds good to me. Come on, Abbi, let’s get out of here.” Sam put his arm over her shoulders as they made their way up to the bar with Dean trailing behind.

Once back at the motel, Abbi questioned Dean about their quick exit from the bar. He brushed her off giving her the excuse about not wanting to drink too much then drive. She didn’t believe him but didn’t push the issue. She was tired and just wanted to enjoy the rest of the evening with her brothers.

Sam fell asleep around one in the morning, leaving Abbi and Dean sitting at the small table playing cards. The beer was gone so Dean had produced a bottle of whiskey from the trunk of the Impala. Not being much of a drinker, Abbi was feeling quite tipsy. She decided to ask again why they left the bar so quickly.

“Because I didn’t like the way the asshats in the bar were looking at you,” Dean told her honestly. “I didn’t figure you would appreciate being part of a bar fight since you didn’t like when that guy hitting on you backed off after getting a look at me and Sam.”

“Why would there have been a fight?”

“I’m not having my little sister be the object of some man’s sexual fantasy,” he told her.

“Excuse me? And what if I had wanted to go somewhere with one of them?”

“Sweetheart, that ain’t happening. No man who hangs out in a bar is getting anywhere near you.” His tone was so serious and coldly deadly that it sent a shiver down her spine. However, it also made her angry as she hated when someone implied she needed protecting or that she couldn’t take care of herself.

“If I choose to _pick up_ a guy at a bar, it is of no concern of yours. Just like what you do or what slut you pick up is of no concern to me. I can take care of myself.” Abbi stood too quickly and the room started spinning. She felt herself falling and trying to catch herself, she grabbed onto the table edge, which in turn caused it to tip over and land on top of her. Dean managed to grab the bottle of whiskey and his glass before they went flying.

Growling, Abbi tried to sit up and move the table off herself. But in her drunken condition and broken hand, she couldn’t get the leverage to move it.

“I’d help you, but I wouldn’t want to offend you again. After all, you just said you can take care of yourself.”

Since her glass was close to her left hand and she grabbed it and threw it at Dean, missing him completely.

“You’re cute when you are pissed.”

“And you’re an ass when you’re drunk.”

“Oh, you’ve discovered something else about me.” Dean’s laughter rang out.

“Can you please, stop laughing and help me up?”

“I could, but…what fun is there in that?” When she growled again at him, he sighed. “Fine, fine.” He reached down, with one hand righted the table, and then pulled her to her feet steadying the table she clung to until she sat down in the chair. “Hmm, look at that,” he said and pointed over at Sam, “slept through the whole thing. What can I say? He’s an easy drunk.”

Abbi started laughing and couldn’t stop, tears were running down her face, and she was gasping for air when Dean slid his glass over to her. “Take a drink, Princess. Then I am putting you to bed.”

“K, bed sounds really good ‘bout now,” she said as she curled her arms on the table and dropped her head down to them. She was asleep by the time her head dropped.

Dean looked from Sam to her and sighed. “What I am supposed to do with the both of you?” He scooped her up and put her on the bed in their room. He curled up in the arm chair and fell asleep watching the two of them.

 


	16. Nothing Is Ever Easy

Abbi never had a hangover before, so when she opened her eyes and the pain hit out of nowhere, she was honestly confused. “Holy hell,” she murmured and threw her arm over her face forgetting the cast. The words that came out of her mouth would have made a sailor blush.

“Headache?” The smug tone of Dean’s voice set her teeth on edge.

“What the hell did you do to me last night?” she asked. Very slowly, she rolled over onto her side and gasped. Throwing back the blankets, she lifted her shirt to look at her ribs. “What the f—”

“Abbi!” Sam’s voice cut her sentence off before she could complete it.

“Look at these bruises,” she said.

Dean leaned over her and looked down. He gently traced the line of purple along her rib cage and then looked back at the table. “Guess you lost that fight with the table,” he joked.

Groaning, she dropped her head back on the pillow. “Just shoot me and put me out of my misery…please.”

“Rather than a bullet, how ‘bout some hot coffee and some food?” Sam asked.

It was then she smelled the food. “Coffee, aspirin and silence in the dark. I’ll be good as new…eventually.”

“Coffee, check, aspirin, check, the rest, no can do. We need to be on the road in an hour,” Dean told her.

Through slitted eyes, she glared at him. “I’m revising my statement from last night. You’re not only an ass when you are drunk, Dean. And you’re a sadist to boot. How in the hell are you so…so, whatever when you drank more than I did?”

“What can I say, I handle my drink better than you,” he joked. “Here.” He handed her a cup of coffee. “Drink all of it. Take these and come and eat.”

Abbi took a mouthful of coffee and almost choked. It was laced with whiskey. She looked at Dean. He bent down and whispered, “Shh, trick of the trade.” He winked at her and kissed her on top of her head before going to join Sam at the table.

When she joined them, Sam slid a takeout bag towards her. “Best hangover remedy, greasy hot food. Can I ask a question?” He looked from Abbi to Dean.

“Sure,” Abbi said as she pulled out the covered plate and peeked inside. So far, her stomach was okay. She just hoped it stayed that way.

“What fight with a table did you have? Did you two go back out after I fell asleep or something?” When Dean started laughing, Abbi punched him on the shoulder forgetting again about her cast.

“Ouch,” she said.

“You are going to have to stop hitting me, Princess,” Dean told her. “We didn’t go anywhere, you just slept through the sideshow.”

“It wasn’t my fault,” Abbi protested.

“Of course not,” Dean said, “this damn table just tipped over onto you all on its own.” Pointing at her, he stage whispered to Sam, “Klutz.”

She raised her fist to swing it but Dean caught it mid-swing. “We really need to work on your temper,” he told her. “Now, be a good girl and eat your breakfast before it gets cold.”

Abbi had the strongest urge to fling her breakfast in his face. However, she was really hungry and it did smell good. He wasn’t worth wasting it on.

“So, not to upset you or anything, but shouldn’t your spidey sense have picked up on the fact there were five revenants there last night?” Dean’s tone was casual.

“I would have thought so,” she said considering. “I was paying attention but I never even sensed the first one, let alone the others.” She sat pondering why this happened. She had been concentrating so it wasn’t as if she was distracted and missed the warning from her brain.

It was Sam who came up with a possible reason. “Have you ever sensed ghosts, at all?”

Abbi thought about it for a few minutes. She shook her head. “I never realized it, no, I haven’t. Oh boy, that is a serious disadvantage.”

“Why? Because you are normal around ghosts?” Dean asked.

“As opposed to what?” Her tone was low and steady, always a deadly combination. “Being abnormal? Being a freak because I can sense monsters?”

Dean just shrugged his shoulders as if agreeing with her assessment of herself.

Sam quickly interrupted the fight that was starting, “That’s not what he meant, Abbi.”

“Sure. Hey, it isn’t as if I don’t know what I am. I know it isn’t _normal_ to sense the things I do. I’ve always been weird and strange, it’s not an issue anymore since I learned to use it to my advantage.”

No longer hungry, she stood. “I’m going to get dressed so we can leave.” She went through the adjoining door and slammed it.

Abbi made sure she brought her backpack with her in the car so she could use it as a makeshift pillow. Curled up in the backseat, she went back to sleep once they were on the road. The lack of movement of the car is what woke her hours later. Sitting up, she saw they were at a Gas-n-Sip. She reached down onto the floor and grabbed her purse.

“I’m just going to run in and get something to drink,” she said to Dean who was putting gas in the car. “Want anything?”

“Sammy’s got it,” he told her.

“K, won’t be but a few.” 'First things first,' she thought, 'I need the bathroom.'

Once she had freshened up a bit in the tiny bathroom, she went back into the little store. Her body was stiff and sore and she still had a slight headache. Walking down the snack aisle, she grabbed a couple bags of her favorite munchies. She spotted the candy and selected several different types of those as well. She went up to the counter and set the items on the counter and told the cashier she would be right back and went to get a bottle of sweet tea from the cooler and a cup of coffee.

It happened so fast, one minute she was stirring the sugar in her coffee and the next someone had grabbed her by the shoulder and swung her around. Reflex and instinct hit at the same time. Her knife was in her hand and into the demon’s chest within seconds. As he crumpled to the ground, Abbi was slipping the knife back up the sleeve of her jacket and calmly walking out of the store.

Thankfully, Dean had pulled the Impala to a spot directly in front of the doors. She jumped into the back seat and said simply, “Drive.”

Dean didn’t ask any questions, he just pulled out and got onto the highway. Only then did he ask, “What happened?”

Abbi who was alternating between watching out the back window and the side windows didn’t answer.

“Abbi?”

“Demon. Damn demon attacked me. I didn’t even get my coffee,” she said pouting.

“Here, take mine,” Sam said, handing his cup back to her.

When Dean took the next exit, Sam and Abbi looked at him with identical quizzical looks. “We have to go back—”

“Go back? Are you nuts?” Abbi exclaimed.

It took only a second for Sam to realize why Dean was going back. “Video tape,” he said.

Dean nodded. “I’ll find a place to stop and change into a fed suit. You’re on tape, too, Sammy. I’ve got to go in solo.” He shook his head. Ahead there was a small park, Dean pulled into the parking lot. “You two stay here. I’m going to change and I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”

After he left and they sat under a tree out of sight of anyone coming or going, Abbi said, “I screwed up. I just reacted and didn’t think.”

“It’s okay. You did what you had to do. Dean will go in, get the tape, no harm, no foul,” he said. “Don’t worry.”

It was nearly an hour later when Dean pulled back into the parking lot. They rushed out to get into the car, not knowing if Abbi was safe or if they were running.

“What happened?” The question was asked in unison.

“Agent Bonham got to the tape first, and mysteriously, it didn’t record anything.” Dean smiled. “They’ve got a description of you from the cashier, but he didn’t see what happened.”

“So, I’m in the clear?”

“Yeah, but we need to get you away from here, and you probably should stay clear of this area for a while,” Dean told her.

Once they were back on the highway, Sam wanted to know exactly what happened. Abbi explained what occurred. “I had no warning. When he spun me around, I knew instantly what he was so pulling my knife and stabbing him was just a reflex action.”

“But you didn’t sense him before that?” Dean asked.

“No, my _spidey_ sense let me down again, but at least this time, it was only me in danger of being killed.” Her tone was gruff. “You know, I told you right from the start, if I am distracted, it doesn’t always work right. I have to concentrate and pay attention. Guess that is another flaw in my freakish mind.”

“Abbi…” Sam started.

But Abbi cut him off, “Don’t Sam, I know what I am and I accepted it a long time ago. I just thought, or hoped…never mind, it doesn’t matter.” She slid back in the seat and closed her eyes before she asked, “How long until we are back ho—at the Bunker?” She has almost called it home, but right now, she wasn’t sure she felt that way anymore.

“Another couple hours,” Sam said.

“Wake me when we get there,” she told him keeping her eyes closed. She had no intention of falling asleep, she wasn’t even tired, but she didn’t want to talk, either.

Occasionally, you know when something is a dream. For Abbi, she knew this wasn’t. The stillness of the car told her when she slowly opened her eyes, they were parked. Without moving, she glanced out the side window and recognized the wall of the garage in the Bunker. She felt cold, which part of her brain told her was not normal.

Sitting up slowly, she looked around. What she saw, had her rubbing her eyes even as she opened the car door and climbed out. “Daddy?”

“Hi Abbi girl,” her father said as he stepped towards her.

She took a step back and he stopped. “How? Why? Dad, what are you doing here?”

A smile came over her father’s face. “Watching out for my baby girl. I’ve missed you.”

“I’m fine, Dad. You shouldn’t be here. Why didn’t you…”

“Go on? You’re mom did. I couldn’t. How could I go on knowing we were leaving you all alone? Abbi girl, you should never have…I mean, we shouldn’t have brought you up in this life. Hunting? What were we thinking?”

“Dad, I loved my life, I still do. I am a hunter, it’s in my blood. And, Daddy, I’m not alone,” she told him as she took a step forward. “I found my brothers or they found me, whatever. Dad, you need to go be with Mom.”

“You’re not safe, Abbi. Not here. You need to get away from here,” her father implored. “You don’t know…you don’t understand…the Mark…Abbi, please, go back to California. Go back and forget them, this life. Start a family, be safe and happy.”

“Abbi! You awake yet?” Sam’s voice echoed through the garage.

“Dad?” she whispered as she watched her father look toward the doorway then disappear. She leaned back against the car and dropped her head into her hands, tears streaming down her face.


	17. Keeping Secrets

Sam found her crying, leaning against the Impala. He didn’t ask any questions, just picked her up, and carried her into the Bunker. He went over to one of the leather bound chairs in front of the bookcases and sat down with her on his lap. Sam waved Dean off when he approached. He made soothing noises until she stopped crying.

Eventually, Abbi was silent in Sam’s arms. “Want to talk about it?” he asked gently. He felt her take a deep breath before she finally nodded.

“I…my…” She took another deep breath. “When I sat up in the car, my dad was standing in front of it.”

“Oh, baby,” Sam said. “You okay?”

That was one of the things she loved about Sam, she just told him there had been a ghost in the garage, and he was concerned if she was okay.

‘Wait,’ she brain interrupted, ‘did you just say love?’

Her eyes got wide and she pushed herself back to look at Sam. “Holy hell,” she murmured.

“Yeah, that probably about covers it,” he said and chuckled.

“No,” she said and waved his comment away, “not my dad, I just realized something else.”

“What?”

‘Okay, now what?’ her brain asked her. ‘You opened another can of worms. So, you going to tell him?’

“It’s nothing,” she said.

‘Chicken,’ her brain mocked.

“So, there was my dad standing there. At first, I thought I was seeing things, you know, something to do with the hangover, the alcohol, anything. But, I got out of the car and he was still there.” She stopped talking when she heard the footsteps.

“What’s going on?” Dean asked.

“Pull up a seat,” Abbi told him. “I’m just about to tell the tale of my very recent encounter with my father’s ghost.”

It took twice as long to tell the story than it had taken for it to happen. Half-way through, Dean had gone into the next room and came back with a shot of whiskey in a glass and told her to drink it. It steadied her enough to get through all of their questions. Though, when they decided that they needed to check around for EMFs, she declined to go with them, preferring to stay where she was curled up in the chair.

‘You lied to them,’ her brain accused her.

‘I only omitted a very small detail,’ she countered.

‘Probably the most important detail. The mention of the danger you are in because of the Mark.’

‘Shut up. I am in no danger from Dean.’

‘Are you sure about that? Willing to risk your life on it?’

Her brothers came back at that moment and pronounced the Bunker ghost free, at least for the time being, they went into the kitchen to have dinner. Abbi knew the conversation would come back to her father and what to do about him. Problem was, she didn’t know. 

When the subject did come up, Abbi just told them that for now, she didn’t want to do anything. She agreed to keep a shotgun with rock salt shells loaded next to her bed, just in case, but that was as far as she was willing to go.

The next two weeks passed quietly, her father hadn’t been back and no strange voicemails turned up on her phone. Several times during the last week of April, Abbi walked into a room where her brothers were talking and they both stopped, or there was a pause in their conversation before they started talking again about something off the wall. She had the same experience a few times with one of them being on the phone and they would stop talking when she walked by only to hang up quickly.

She was getting very suspicious that something was going on, and she was being kept in the dark. Abbi didn’t think it had anything to do with Abaddon because they were only too willing to discuss anything to do with finding her with her. By the first of May, Abbi felt like she was walking on eggshells, not knowing why her brothers were keeping things from her.

Abbi had taken over the grocery shopping, so when she woke on Friday morning, she dressed in jeans and a t-shirt for a trip to the store. She had put it off all week, but there was only enough coffee left for this morning and other staples were getting low. Besides, Dean had asked her last night if she was going to the store today, when she said she probably was, he asked her to pick up some beer since they were running low on that as well.  

She left a note on the table by the coffeemaker for her brothers as to where she had gone and headed to the garage. For the first time in weeks, she felt free when she pulled out of the garage. Top down, sun shining and the wind blowing through her hair, she blasted her stereo as she drove the thirty miles to the store.

Meanwhile, back at the Bunker, the brothers listened closely until they heard the garage door close behind Abbi’s car. However, to be on the safe side, Sam went and checked to make sure she really left.

“We’re in the clear,” he told Dean when he came back in the room. “Let’s get started.” They both pulled out their phones and began making calls.

Abbi was correct in her assumption that her brothers were keeping something from her. When she got back to the Bunker, she pulled into her spot and immediately both Sam and Dean were there to help her with the bags from the store. This sent up red flags to Abbi. Sam almost always helped her, no questions asked, but Dean, conveniently, was usually nowhere to be found.

She didn’t question them helping her. While she was shopping, she had decided she was going to ambush them tonight over a very special dinner. Abbi was going to demand to know what was going on, and they were going to tell her.

As the three of them put the groceries away, Abbi had a very hard time not giving in and questioning them right then and there. It was a wonder she had a tongue left by the time they were done because she had to keep biting it to keep her mouth shut. Once the groceries were all put-away, Dean told her they had something to show her in the library. Interest peaked that maybe they were finally going to clue her in as to what the hell has been going on, she followed behind him.

They both went in front of her through the doorway and when she came through, it was to see at least a dozen people standing there.

“SURPRISE!” they all yelled in unison. It was only then she realized the room had been decorated for a birthday party, including a very large banner reading:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ABBI AND SAM!

Tears sprang to her eyes as Sam hugged her. She felt Dean’s arms come around her from behind. “This is what you two have been keeping from me? A birthday party?”

Sam nodded. “Let me tell you, it hasn’t been easy. You move like a silent stalker. We never knew when you would walk in on us. Then we were worried you would either think we were keeping something important from you, or you would figure it out.”

“I did think you were keeping something secret from me, but honestly, I completely forgot it was my birthday.”

“So, you had no idea about this?” Dean asked.

“Not a clue,” Abbi told him.

“Hey, you think we can get in on all this huggy stuff?” Jake asked as he pushed at Sam.

“Jake! I can’t believe you are here,” Abbi said as she hugged him then Mick.

“Not only us, we brought some old friends.” He waved at the people behind him.

Abbi was overwhelmed by the fact that besides Jake and Mick, five other hunters she knew were there. Amazement filled her that her brothers had put all this together for her. Before she could even go around and see who was there, Sam approached.  

“Abbi, we have a few of people who we want you to meet,” Sam said to her. He led her over to a couple holding hands, talking to a man with dark hair with his back to her. “Abbi, first off, let me introduce you to someone you wished to meet,” Sam said as he indicated the couple. “This is Garth and his wife, Bess.”

As Sam introduced them, she saw who they were talking to, her Uncle Earl. He smiled at her and reached out to draw her into a hug.

“Sorry, Garth, family first,” he said, smiling as he stepped back and with his hands on her upper arms, looked her up and down. “Well, except for that cast, you look pretty good. Seems like these boys here are taking good care of you.”

“They are, Uncle Earl. You don’t have to worry,” she said. She turned and held out her hand to Garth, “It is nice to finally meet you.” Her voice was sincere.

“You are just like I pictured,” Garth said.

“Hey, Abbi!” Dean called from across the room. “Come on over here.”

Apologizing to Garth, Bess, and her uncle, Abbi followed Sam across the room to Dean. As they walked Sam put his arm around Abbi’s shoulder and she wrapped hers around his waist. It was that picture, the two of them united that was the first image Cas had of Abbi.

“Abbi, this is Cas,” Dean said simply.

Abbi wasn’t sure what she was expecting, but this dark haired man in a trench coat, who if she had met in a bar, she would have definitely clocked him as someone she wanted to get to know better, was the angel Castiel.

'Did one shake the hand of an angel?' she wondered.

“Cas, this is our baby sister, Abbi,” Dean said.

“Baby? I’m not a baby, I am as old as Sam, we’re twins after all,” she protested.

“Ah, but you did say I was born first, which makes you the baby,” Sam told her as he kissed her forehead.

“Ugg, why did I ever share that piece of information?” She realized Dean purposefully teased her about being the baby to put her at ease.

“I am pleased to meet you, Abbi,” Cas said as he held out his hand.

Abbi automatically reached out her right hand, forgetting about her cast as usual, then realizing how hard shaking hands was going to be with that hand, started to pull it back. Cas clasped her hand anyway and held it tight. She saw the bright light emanating from his hand surround her hand and wrist. Immediately, all pain was gone. He let go of her hand and smiled a radiant smile and she saw the essence of the angel standing before her.

“You can take that cast off now,” he told her. “Your hand is healed.”

Abbi flexed her fingers and felt no pain for the first time in three weeks. “Thank you.”

Cas looked at Dean and said, “You should have called me sooner. There was no reason for her to suffer.” Shaking his head, he looked at Abbi, “I will give you my phone number. Please call me next time you are injured.”

She nodded. ‘Imagine,’ she thought, ‘I am going to have an angel on speed dial.’ This thought struck her as so funny, she couldn’t stop the laughter from bubbling to the surface. The three men looked at her questioningly. She held up a hand as she tried to gain control over her laughter.

‘How am I going to explain this one?’ she thought.

“It was just a stray thought that ran through my mind, nothing important.” She hoped they wouldn’t push as to what that thought was, but of course, Dean did.

“Do share with the class,” he said.

“Um, well…it just struck me as funny that little ol’ Abbi Campbell is going to have an angel on speed dial.” She started to laugh again. “Oh, and I just thought of the _perfect_ ringtone…”

“ _Rockstar_?” Dean asked.

“Got it in one,” Abbi said, still giggling. Dean looked at her and then he, too, began to laugh.

“Oh, that’s great. I think I may just have to change my ringtone for Cas,” he said.

“I fail to see how _Rockstar_ applies to me,” Cas said, his tone very serious.

That did it, both Abbi and Dean collapsed against each other in laughter. All heads turned towards the sound.

Garth watched the scene from across the room. He looked at Bess and Earl. “They are a family now.” For anyone who bothered to look, Garth’s eyes were shiny with unshed tears of happiness.


	18. She’s a Winchester

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am adding a warning of demon torture to this chapter.  
> *****

“I am confused,” Cas said once Dean and Abbi stopped laughing which caused them to start again. At the stern look from Sam, they both did their best to hold in their laughter.

“Well, you see Cas, that is the name of a song by—”

Cas cut across Dean, “No, I understand the reference, sort of, but that is not what is confusing me. I understand other parents raised you, Abbi, but you are a Winchester. Why have you not taken the name of your parents?”

Cas’ innocent question took Abbi by surprise. She hadn’t thought about changing her name to Winchester. It made sense but also it felt disrespectful at the same time to the people who spent years raising her. The approach of several hunters she had worked with over the years back on the west coast saved her from having to answer.

It was after midnight before the Bunker was empty of all guests. Cas had left shortly after their conversation telling them he had things he had to ‘get back to’ but he wouldn’t elaborate on them. Garth and Bess had been one of the first to leave. Garth explained Bess was uncomfortable around so many hunters. Earl was one of the last to leave wanting to make sure Abbi was safe and happy.

Abbi and Sam were sitting in the kitchen each with a bottle of beer when Dean came in with a hacksaw. “Dean, um, they're twist-off tops, no need for the heavy artillery,” Abbi said. He reached down and grabbed her casted arm. “Dean, what the hell?”

Sam knew instantly what he was about to do. “Abbi, just hold still. He’s done this before.” Sam reached out and helped Dean to steady her arm on the table.

It took Abbi only a second longer to realize what he was about to do. “Seriously? I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

“Trust me,” he told her. He began sawing at her cast. Abbi closed her eyes and held her breath. When she felt the air on her arm, her eyes flew open and she looked down quickly.

“Now, isn’t that better?” he asked with a cocky grin on his face.

Flexing her hand, Abbi smiled. “Yeah, feels great. Now I don’t have to worry about being hampered by that thing, I want to hunt.”

“Whoa, hold on there, Warrior Princess, we are—”

“We are what, Dean? Surfing the internet, holed up in here while monsters go on without us? What do you think they are doing? Taking a vacation in Maui while we sit in here?”

“Abaddon is our focus. Our _only_ focus right now,” Dean told her.

“Then we need to do more than what we are doing. We need to get proactive. She has demons doing her dirty work, right? Then there has to be one who knows something. I say, let’s hunt some demons.” The look in her eyes was fierce. 

“Dean, she may be right,” Sam said. “We aren’t getting anywhere the way we are going.”

Dean didn’t answer. He went and grabbed more beers from the refrigerator and after passing them out, sat down. “So, where do we start?”

They decided to find a demon, the best person to call was the only demon who they were on somewhat speaking terms with. Dean called Crowley. He reluctantly agreed to check around and see if he could find any demons who may be of use to them and would call him back.

Dean excused himself to go to the bathroom and Sam went to get his computer when Dean’s cell phone rang. Abbi looked at the screen and saw it read: 666. Intrigued, she answered it.

“Hello,” she said.

“You’re not Squirrel unless there’s something you’re not telling me,” came the response.

Abbi knew instantly who it was from the accent. “Crowley.” Her tone conveyed her disgust at talking to a demon.

“You have me at a serious disadvantage, poppet. Are you one of Dean’s pick-ups? Or perhaps, the lovely little blond he and Moose were with the other night in the diner?”

“Do you have the information Dean wanted or not?”

“Ah, straight to the point, I see. But, since I have no bloody idea who you are, why should I tell you anything?"

“You want to know who I am, Crowley? I am the one who is going to end you, I am the one who is going to—” The phone was pulled from her hand.

“Crowley, what did you find?” Dean asked even as he gave Abbi warning look. “Don’t worry about who she is…Listen to my voice, if you don’t help me with this, _I_ will personally hold you down and watch happily while she cuts you into little pieces. Now, what did you find?”

After Dean hung up the phone, he relayed what Crowley had told him. There were signs of demons under Abaddon’s command about an hour west of them. They decided to go out in the morning searching for them. The plan was to capture one and bring it back to the Bunker for interrogation.

They left at eight in the morning and were back at the Bunker by two in the afternoon with a freshly caught demon. Abbi was unsure about bringing a demon back to the safe zone of the Bunker, but her brothers assured her that there was a secret she hadn’t found in her wanderings that made it safe to do so.

Abbi made a detour to her room to grab a small red bag before she went to the storage room where Sam told her to meet them. When she got there, she was shocked to see another room in the back. Walking in, she saw the devil’s trap on the floor and the demon chained to a heavy wooden chair.

“Wow! Just wow!”

“Welcome to the dungeon,” Sam said, understanding what she was feeling. He felt the same way the first time he walked in here. “What’s that?” he asked, indicating the bag she held.

“Just some things I picked up in New Orleans a few years back,” she said and smiled. The smile was not one of amusement or happiness. She set the bag down on the table and unzipped it. When Sam started to reach in, she slapped his hand. “Hands off, buddy. I got this.”

He backed away with both hands raised and looked at Dean who shrugged. “Let’s see what you got, Princess.”

Abbi pulled out a bottle and shook it, she then took out a needle and filled it with whatever was in the bottle. She grabbed her knife from the back of her waistband in her left hand and the filled needle in her right. She approached the demon and said simply, “You have one chance to tell us where Abaddon is before…” She let her sentence dangle off as she looked at the syringe in her hand.

“I’m not afraid of no skinny-ass bitch,” the demon hissed.

“Oh, such language. Tsk, tsk. What would your mother say? So, are you going to be nice and answer?” She waited barely a moment. “No? Good.” She stabbed the syringe into the demon’s arm and pushed the plunger.

The reaction was immediate. The demon’s arm began to smoke and the skin began to turn black. Screams of pain were echoing off the walls of the chamber.

“Oh, come on, I only gave you a small dose. Imagine if I had given you a full dose,” she said calmly. “Now, ready to talk?” she asked, but she turned her back on him and walked back over to the bottle to refill her needle with what was obviously some sort of poison.

The demon was still groaning in pain when she walked back. “Oh, please. Fine,” she said. She took her knife and cut down the demon’s arm removing the entire blackened area. “There, that better?” Screams again rang out from the demon.

“I’d say this hurts me more than it hurts you, but, we both know that isn’t true, now don’t we?” She raised the demon’s head with the blade of her knife under his throat and looked into his black eyes. “It can all stop, just tell me what I want to know.” Her voice was steady, calm and clear.

“Go to hell, bitch!” the demon said.

“I probably will, but not today. So, let’s see, where next, hmm…” She ran the needle down his other arm, then his chest and finally his thigh and back up to the top of his thigh.

“Dean…” Sam whispered.

“Sammy, let her go. This is great,” Dean said smiling obviously enjoying the show.

“I think I will save that for just a bit, let’s try…here.” She jammed the tip into his thigh. “Oh, does that hurt?” The sound of innocence in her voice had Dean chuckling.

“I think you better answer the lady’s question,” he said to the demon.

“I don’t know anything. She doesn’t let us know where she is.”

“You’re telling me,” Abbi said as she again refilled her syringe, “that you have no idea where she is. How do you know what to do? Or do you get to do whatever you want?”

“We get orders from a higher up, and he gets them from someone higher than him,” the demon said as he watched Abbi approach, eyes on the needle in her hand.

“So, you’ve never even talked to her, seen her?” The demon shook his head, but Abbi saw the lie on his face. With no warning, she injected him for a third time, right at the very top of his thighs.

“Dean, we have to stop her. She’s going too far,” Sam said.

“Sam, it’s a demon. There is no _too far_ ,” Dean said.

“Not too far for the demon, for her. Look if you won’t stop her, I will.” Sam made a move to go towards Abbi as the demon’s screams were still echoing through the room.

Dean grabbed his arms. “She’s fine. Let her alone.” The tone of Dean’s voice made Sam stop and look at him.

“I can’t watch this. It is going to mess her up,” Sam said.

“Sammy, does she look like it is bothering her at all? Hell, she looks like she is having a chat with an old friend.”

“That’s what scares me,” Sam said, worry creasing his brow.

“Now, do you want to tell me the truth or not? Where’s Abaddon?” Abbi ran her knife along the demon’s cheek.

“I am telling the truth! I don’t know.”

“Okay, then, say you are telling the truth, where’s your boss?” She slid the knife down his neck, the tip nicked his chin as she moved it down.

“No, I won’t tell you. You might as well kill me. If I tell you that, he’ll kill me, so what is the difference.”

“Buddy, he won’t get the chance to kill you. Haven’t you figured it out yet? You were dead the second we picked you up. Your only choice is how painful it is. Now talk.” Abbi began running the point of the knife over more exposed skin slicing slightly as she did. Smoke could still be seen coming from his skin on his thighs. The cotton had been burned away by whatever it was she had injected him with.

Though the demon still screamed in pain when she cut a bit too deep, he refused to answer any questions. After ten more minutes, Sam had enough. He went over and grabbed Abbi’s arm.

“Enough,” he said to her.

She turned and glared at him. “No, it isn’t, Sam. It is just time to turn it up a notch.” She shrugged off his hand and went over to her bag. She whipped around when she heard the scream.

Dean stood holding his knife dripping in blood. He had killed the demon. “It’s over. He didn’t know anything else.”

Abbi looked at him and shrugged. She turned and walked out of the room without saying anything.

“Dean, what the hell was that? Should we be worried about her?”

“She’s fine, Sam. She’s a Winchester.” Pride clear in his voice. 


	19. Fallout, Accident, and Tragedy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains strong profanity.
> 
> *****

Sam found Abbi sitting at the table in the main room, her laptop opened with a glass of whiskey next to it.

“We need to talk about what happened in there,” Sam said.

“No, we need to find his boss, and if we can’t, then we need to find another one who will lead us to a leader.” She picked up the glass and downed the contents. Without hesitation, she refilled the glass and took a sip, then looked back at Sam. “You going to help search or not?”

“What the hell was in that syringe?” Dean asked coming into the room. He grabbed a glass of his own and poured himself a drink. “I’ve never seen that reaction to anything before.”

“Holy water, with a bit of Holy Oil, and a few herbs, patchouli, knotweed, and rosemary thrown in for good measure. A simple mixture, quite effective, as you saw. You just have to be careful how much you use.” She shook her head with a small smile on her face. “First couple times out, demons blew up until I figured it out, it is just a matter of the right dosage to use and how deep you stick them.”

“Blew up? Bet that was messy,” Dean commented.

“Totally,” she agreed, “not that it matters. Honestly, if it has black eyes, destroying it is the right option.”

“What about exorcism? Some of the humans can be saved that way,” Sam said.

“Exorcism? Yeah, great, send them back to hell, so they can just jump back into another human. Great idea, Sam. And the humans you save? Do you really think they are okay mentally after having a demon riding them for any length of time? I doubt it.” Her tone was cold and callous. She took another drink and went back to her computer.

Sam nodded to Dean to indicate he wanted to talk to him alone in the other room. They went into the kitchen. “Dean, you have to try talking to her, reasoning with her.”

“Why, Sammy? She’s got the right idea,” Dean responded and started to leave the room.

“You see nothing wrong with her? With what just happened in there?”

“No, not at all. He was a demon, Sam. Sorry, if I don’t get all weepy eyed over a demon. Kid had the right idea.”

Over the next couple weeks, they sought out demons of Abaddon’s. They didn’t however, bring any more of them back to the Bunker. They weren’t able to get any closer to finding her through any of them.

They were gearing up to go on another demon run when Abbi’s phone rang. “Hey, Jake, what’s up?...Whoa, whoa…deep breath, Jake, I can’t understand you. Slow down.” She listened for a minute before she said, “I’m on my way. I’ll be there by this time tomorrow.” She hung up the phone and stood without moving for a few seconds, eyes closed.

“Abbi, what’s going on?” Sam asked concerned.

Taking a deep, steadying breath, Abbi said, “Mick was in an accident. They don’t know…they don’t know if he is going to make it.”

Immediately, both of them wrapped Abbi up in their arms, one from the front, and one from behind. Tears streamed down her face while she stood immobile in the arms of her brothers. After a few minutes, she took a shaky breath and wiped impatiently at the tears.

“I can’t do this now,” she said, more to herself than to them. “I need to get on the road. I have to get to Sacramento. They need me.”

“We’ll all go,” Dean said.

“No, you can’t. You have to keep searching, you are so close, I just know you are.”

“We are coming,” Sam said.

She was about to argue when Sam’s phone rang. Taking the opportunity to escape to her room to pack, Abbi slipped away as she heard him answer.

“Jodi, hey what’s up with our favorite sheriff?”

When she came back into the main room carrying her backpack and duffle bag, Sam told her that the phone call he received was from an old friend who was having an issue and needed them in South Dakota.

“Sam, I got this, no problem. It isn’t a hunter issue. Please, go help your friend. I’ll call when I get there.” She hugged him and went to the garage.

Dean was waiting for her in the garage. After throwing her things in the trunk, she hugged him and told him the same thing she told Sam. She could see him out of the rearview mirror as she drove out of the garage watching her.

She made it to the hospital in just under twenty hours. She broke several speed limits on her way there, but she dared a cop to stop her. When she arrived, Jake told her Mick was still in very critical condition, but if he made it through the next twenty-four hours, then they were hopeful for a full recovery. He explained that he had gone out to get them something to eat and some guy ran a red light and broadsided the car.

The next few days were some of the longest of Abbi’s life. Sleep was a luxury and split between Jake and herself. They knew Mick was going to make it, but it was going to be a long recovery for him. She assured both of them that she would stay as long as they needed her to stay.

She checked in often with Sam and or Dean, whichever brother, she could get in contact with when she called. They both told her to take all the time she needed out there and not to worry about the stuff going on back home.

When Sam called two weeks later to tell her that Abaddon was dead, she was thrilled. For the first time, she breathed a bit easier. Then he told her they were going after Metatron. She told him she was coming home. He said not to, that they had it handled, he said Cas was working with them. It would be easier if they didn’t have her to worry about. He reasoned Metatron didn’t know about her and they wanted to keep it that way. No matter how she argued it was for that reason she should come home, she was the perfect secret weapon, Sam told her no.

Mick was making great progress and was scheduled to be moved to a rehab facility within the next few days so Abbi made the decision not to listen to Sam but to her inner voice telling her to go home. She just sensed that whether to not Sam said it was handled, she was needed at home.

She drove like a maniac and was almost half-way home when the pain hit taking all breath from her. Her chest felt as if it was on fire. Gasping for air, she pulled off to the side of the highway and slumped over the steering wheel rubbing her chest, her eyes closed.

Images flashed through her mind, Dean his face bloody, Sam running towards him, then she saw it, the wound bleeding profusely from Dean’s chest. She watched as Sam dropped to his knees in front of him. Time seemed to stop as she gasped for air. She saw Sam helping Dean across the deserted warehouse and watched as Dean collapsed in Sam’s arms. Tears streamed down her face. The searing pain in her chest changed from burning hot to shattering heartbreak. The images stopped.

It was another five minutes before she could move. She threw her car into drive and pulled back onto the highway, she had to get home as quickly as possible. She shut her mind off and concentrated only on her driving.

This part of the trip should have taken her about fourteen hours, she made it in twelve. She pulled into the garage and slammed her car into park. Leaving the keys in the ignition when she shut it off, she raced into the Bunker.

She found Sam sitting at the table, an open bottle of whiskey next to his hand. “Where is he?” she asked. He didn’t answer. She wasn’t even sure he heard her. She turned and headed to Dean’s room.

As she opened the door, she took a deep breath, she held no hope that what she saw, what she suspected wasn’t true. Dean lay on the bed, the blood was cleaned from his face, and he looked to be just sleeping. She walked over and dropped to her knees beside him taking his hand in hers.

Tears streaming down her face, she laid her other hand on his chest. No heartbeat could be felt. “I never even told you, I loved you,” she said to him. “I…I…” Her voice broke. “Fuck this.” She stood and leaned down to kiss his forehead. “Don’t think you are getting away with this, Dean Winchester. You are _NOT_ leaving me, not when I just found you.”

She turned and marched out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Sam was still sitting unmoved from where she left him. She picked up the bottle and drank deep before setting it back down. “What are we going to do to get him back?” she asked.

Again Sam didn’t respond. Abbi dropped to her knees in front of him and shook him. “Sam, come on, snap out of it. Winchesters don’t give in, how many stories have you told me about you coming back? What are we going to do about this? How do we get him back? A crossroads deal, something. I don’t care, just tell me what to do. Hell, I’ll deal directly with Crowley, just call him.”

Sam stared blankly at her. “He’s not coming back, not this time.”

“Fuck that, Sam,” she said. “If you won’t find a way, I will.” She stood and left the room. She went directly to her room. There had to be a way. She just had to find it. Forty-five minutes later, she was resigned to the fact they only thing to do was a crossroads deal. Ten years, she was willing to do it. Determined, she went in search of Sam. She wasn’t going to tell him what she was doing because she knew he would try to stop her. She also needed to figure out how to get Dean into her car. She couldn’t take the chance of leaving his body here. Sam may decide to give him the hunter’s funeral he should have before she made her deal.

When she came out of her room, she heard the noise. It sounded as if they were under attack. Things were breaking and it sounded like heavy objects, possibly books were being thrown around the main room. She didn’t hesitate, she pulled her gun and raced towards the sound.

The sight that greeted her stopped her dead in her tracks. Sam was trashing the main room. Things were flying everywhere. Sighing, she put the gun in her waistband at her back, and carefully ducking the flying objects, she entered the fray.

“Sam. Sam! SAM!” she yelled over the noise. He paused and looked at her.

“Go away, Abbi, I’m not in the mood right now,” he said.

“Sam…listen, I know…”

“What do you know?” he asked. “He’s gone, GONE!” Sam said. “I swear when I find Crowley, I’m going to cut that blackened heart from his body.”

“Sam…wait, what does Crowley have to do with this?”

Sam shoved a piece of paper into her hand. She opened it and read: **_Sammy Let me go_**. She didn’t understand.

“Sam, what…where?”

"I told you, he’s gone,” Sam answered her.

Abbi turned and went to Dean’s room. As soon as she opened the door, she realized what Sam meant. Dean’s bed was empty. She looked again at the note still held in her hand. _Crowley, how did he play into this?_ she wondered. She left the note on Dean’s pillow and went back out to Sam.


	20. Grief Does Strange Things

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains strong profanity.
> 
> *****

He had stopped breaking and throwing things, which Abbi thought was a good sign, however, he was back to the whiskey, not so good. “Sam, what does Crowley have to do with Dean?

“He took him, he must have one of his black-eyed friends in Dean,” Sam growled. “I’m going to find them, kill Crowley and get my brother back.” He downed his glass of whiskey and poured another.

“Sam…”

“Abbi, don’t, you can either help me or stay the hell out of my way. I don’t fucking care. He’s _MY_ brother and no one is going to stand in my way.”

“You don’t _fucking care_? I see. Well, understand this, Dean is _my_ brother, too." She hit her chest with a pointed finger. "And maybe, just maybe, if you had let me come with you, this never would have happened. Ever think about that? You both made a decision to keep me out of this. Now, here is the fallout. Perhaps if I had been there—”

“It wouldn’t have made a difference. Dean went in alone. I didn’t get there in time. He…the Mark…he went off on his own to take out Metatron and I didn’t get there in time.” Sam grabbed the bottle and drank directly from it.

Abbi felt a moment of sympathy for Sam, but her anger was so strong at not being here she snapped. She grabbed the bottle from Sam’s hands and threw it across the room. She had warned both of her brothers her temper was not something they wanted to see, well, Sam was about to see why.

“You weren’t with him?” Sam opened his mouth to say something, but she held up a hand to forestall him and continued, “Whatever, I’m sure you had your reasons. I’m sure there is a _logical_ reason why, a plan being worked, whatever. It wasn’t a good plan, now was it? Just maybe if I had been asked, if I had been around, Dean wouldn’t have been alone, he wouldn’t have been vulnerable.” She took a deep breath.

“You could have been off doing whatever you were doing and I could have had his back, something I trusted you to do. I _trusted_ you to do, Sam. You told me, _YOU_ told me that you, Dean and Cas had this. I shouldn’t worry. Well, where the hell is Cas? Why is Dean dead? Shouldn’t your angel on call have been around? No one was there when Dean needed someone.”

She grabbed the glass sitting on the table and drank the contents down in one gulp. “I should have been there, I could have been there. I _would_ have been there. Dean would still be alive, not some black-eyed demon. Don’t you see, Sam? He’s something we have to hunt, now. I have to hunt my brother. Can he be saved? I hope so, but Sam, if he can know this, Crowley is dead, either way.” She turned and started out of the room, Sam’s voice stopped her in her tracks.

“He can be saved, I was. He survived purgatory, he can come back from this,” Sam said. “You can’t kill him.”

“I’ll do what needs to be done, Sam. Unlike you, I can shut everything off and do what needs to be done. So, you can either help _me_ or stay the fuck out of my way.” She left the room and went to her bedroom.

When she came back into the main room, she found Sam had picked up all the books and was sitting at the table with his laptop, a cup of coffee next to him. “Coffee’s hot,” he said.

She merely nodded and set her red bag on the table before going into the kitchen. Mug in her hand, she came back to see her bag was gone. “Sam, where’s my bag?”

“Abbi, why do you need your bag?” he asked.

“Because someone somewhere knows where Dean and Crowley are, and I am not going to be asking nicely for the information.” Her words were cold.

The sound on the stairs had both of them whipping their heads around. Cas was walking down them. “Sam, is it true?” he asked in his gruff voice.

“Where the hell were you?” Abbi demanded.

“I—”

“It doesn’t matter, now does it? Dean’s dead, no, correction, Dean is something worse than dead, he is with Crowley, most likely with some black-eyed demon riding him, and now we have to find him.” Abbi said.  

Cas looked at Sam for an explanation, but before Sam could speak, Abbi spotted her bag across the room and moved towards it. “Sam, I’ll call if I hear anything. I just ask you do the same. If you can’t stay sober, then just stay here, and feed me information when I call.”

“Abbi, wait, we should be searching together,” Sam said.

“Oh, now you want to work together. Screw you, Sam. Screw both of you. I will find my brother. I will handle this. You either thought you didn’t need me, or you just didn’t want me there with you, it doesn’t matter which. I don’t really care right now. Right now, I have two things on my mind, finding Dean and killing Crowley. I _don’t_ need you. I work just fine on my own.” She turned and walked out of the room towards the garage.

They heard the roar of the Mustang start and the squeal of tires as Abbi drove out of the garage. Cas stood stunned and Sam just sat there unmoving.

“You shouldn’t have let her go,” Cas said.

“Like I had a choice,” Sam said. He had lost his brother and now it looked like he had lost his sister. He turned back to the computer and not even knowing what he was looking for, began searching.

It was two weeks later before Abbi called Sam. She knew that Dean and Crowley were still topside, but she was no closer to finding out where than she had been when she left the Bunker. Her patience was wearing thin with the demons she captured and more often than not, they ended up dead quite quickly.

She wasted no time with pleasantries, when Sam answered, “Sam, you got anything?”

“Abbi? Where are you?”

“Somewhere in Minnesota,” she answered, “no, wait, that was yesterday, I’m in South Dakota.”

“Abbi—”

She cut him off, “Sam, I just called to see if you had anything. Do you?”

“No, not really. We keep running into dead ends,” he told her.

“Me, too…well, they’re dead when I get done. Anyway, I’ll be in touch if I find anything out,” she told him and hung up the phone. She looked down at the demon at her feet. Bending over, she asked one more time, “Where are they?”

When he didn’t answer, she sliced his throat and walked away.

It was a few hours later that Abbi was sitting at another dive bar when the pain hit. Clutching her elbow, she gasped. She looked around, but no one was near her and she couldn’t see anyone even paying any attention to her, not that a witch needed to be to cast its spell. Tuning out the pain, she concentrated on locating the witch. There was a demon at the back of the bar, but no witches present. Confused, she decided it didn’t matter, she had a job to do. She strode confidently over to the demon and sat down. It took less than five minutes to have him following her out back. Less than ten to have him dead at her feet. He didn’t know anything.

She was in her car trying to decide where to head next when her phone rang. The ringtone told her it was Cas.

Heart in her throat, she answered, “Cas? What’s wrong?” She could think of no reason Cas would be calling her unless something bad had happened.

“Abbi, you need to go home,” Cas said.

“What happened?” she asked, thinking back to the pain in her arm.

“Sam, he’s been injured. He needs you,” Cas told her.

“I’m on my way,” she said and hung up the phone.

She drove as quickly as she could. 'Where did Sam say he was?' she thought. Damn, she couldn’t remember. ‘Actually,’ her brain corrected, ‘you didn’t give him a chance to even tell you where he was.’

She pulled into the Bunker several hours later and raced into the main room. She didn’t see Sam. She began searching for him, kitchen, empty, his room, empty. Where was he? The knowledge of where he was hit like a ton of bricks, she opened the door to Dean’s room and found him sitting on Dean’s bed, the note in his hand.

“Sam?” He looked up at her and she saw the tears in his eyes. She didn’t hesitate, she went over to him and sat on the bed next to him and gathered him into her arms. Whatever had happened, whatever had been said between them, it didn’t matter now. Her brother, her twin was hurting, and not just physically, physical pain didn’t matter, this was grief, pure and simple grief. Neither of them had even allowed themselves time for this. Time to just grieve.

Tears rolled down her cheeks as she felt Sam give in to the bottled up grief of losing his brother. She cried with him but held herself back from truly grieving with him. This time was for him. She had no idea what would happen if both of them gave into the grief at the same time. No, she had to be the strong one right now.

When he was still in her arms, she sighed. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” Her voice was gentle and she urged him to stand. She kept her arm around his waist as she led him from the room. Mind racing, she decided there really wasn’t a place they could go that there wasn’t a memory of Dean there, so she settled on leading him to the table in the main room.

After Sam sat down at the table, she went to make coffee and some food. Sam didn’t look as if he had been eating regular meals. The contents of the refrigerator were scant, so she had limited choice as to what to make. Eggs and cheese were about the only things salvageable from in there, so she would have to make scrambled eggs with cheese. As she set the things down on the counter, Sam came in.

“What happened to your arm?” she asked quietly.

“Fight with a demon,” he answered as he poured a mug of coffee for himself and one for her.     

 “Broken?” she asked.

“Naw, just sprained,” he said. He walked over and set her mug of coffee down on the counter.

“Sam,” she started at the same time as he said her name. “You first,” she told him.

He shook his head, “No, go ahead.”

“I’m sorry,” Abbi said. “I—”

He wrapped his good arm around her drawing her in. “Abbi, it’s okay. I won’t say I wasn’t pissed when you left here, but I understand why you were upset. If it had been me left out, I would have reacted the same way.”

“But, if you understood, why haven’t you called?” she asked.

“Ahh, well, I figured I should let you cool down a bit. If you hadn’t called by today, I was going to call you,” he told her. “You just beat me to it.”

“Weren’t you worried about me?” she asked.

“Umm, no. See, and don’t be upset, Cas has been keeping an eye on you. You aren’t warded from him, so he has been able to keep track of where you are and that you were okay.”

“What? Wait, he has been spying on me?”


	21. Warding, A Lead and The Wrong Direction

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out, the story will be a bit more AU. Abbi will be part of the episodes now. I will keep as much as possible to the scripts. However, Abbi will be making appearances in the episodes from time to time.
> 
> *****

“Not spying, exactly. More like sensing really. If he had sensed anything wrong, then I would have headed straight to you. It sucks he doesn’t have his wings, but we make do.”

“What do you mean, he doesn’t have his wings?”

“He can’t just jump from one spot to another right now, he is wingless. So, we needed to keep a close eye on you in case we needed to get to you fast.”

“Right, okay. So, anyway, what have you found? Anything?” She decided she was too tired to think about an angel watching over her right now or how she felt about that.

“Not much,” Sam said. “You?”

“They’re still topside, but that is all I’ve been able to get. Apparently, they are hanging out just the two of them, not with other demons,” she said. “Don’t know what that means.”

“Yeah, that is pretty much all we’ve been able to find out,” Sam said. “But where they are, no one seems to know.”

“Okay, we need a strategy, something. This just traveling around, hitting up demons, isn’t working,” Abbi said. She thought for a moment. “Didn’t you tell me that Crowley was one a crossroads demon? What about one of them? Maybe they know something,” she said.

Sam shook his head. “No, they don’t know anything. Already went down that road,” he said. The tone of his voice told her not to pursue that line of thinking or to question him about it.

Abbi took a better look at Sam. He looked different. His eyes were cold, there was a determination in them, something dark and if she was honest, scary about them. “Sam…” But she didn’t know what to say, what she wanted to ask him.

It turned out she didn’t have to say anything, Sam understood. “Abbi, nothing matters but getting Dean back. Dean is the only thing. It doesn’t matter what I have to do, what lengths I need to go to, I will get my brother back.”

Abbi shuddered. This was a Sam she didn’t know. This Sam scared her. He turned and went to sit at the table with his coffee. She began to cook food for them while watching Sam out of the corner of her eye. He sat staring into his coffee deep in thought.

She set the plate in front of him causing him to jump. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“No problem,” he said. “I was just thinking. Someone has to know where they are. Crowley doesn’t work without someone knowing where he is. I mean, okay, so I guess these minions we have been finding may not know where he is, but damn, his inner circle would know. We just need to find one of them.”

“So, how do we do that?” she asked as she picked up her fork and began to eat.

“Good question,” he said.

“So, instead of looking for him, maybe we should be looking for one of his inner circle,” she suggested. “If we can locate one of them…” She let the sentence fall off.

“Exactly,” he said and smiled.

Abbi wasn’t sure she liked the smile on Sam’s face. Truth be told, it scared the hell out of her. He looked like a man possessed. She understood the sentiment but seeing that look in Sam’s eyes…

“Abbi, don’t take this the wrong way, I’m thrilled you are here, but why are you here? I mean when you left…”

“I was pissed at you, you mean? I still am, sort of. Aww, hell, Sam, I guess, I kinda understand your reasoning, but, put yourself in my shoes for a minute. I can take care of myself, I’ve been hunting almost my whole life and you choose to keep me out of it.” She took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. “I’m not blaming you for what happened. I just don’t understand what happened.”

Sam put down his fork and took her hand in his. “I’ll tell you,” he said. He told her everything. How they had decided to work with Gadreel and Dean tried to kill him. How Dean took off on his own. He told her about the plan of breaking into Heaven while he went after Dean. He explained what happened in Heaven and why Cas wasn’t there. He even gave her the details of what happened when he finally found Dean.

By the time he was done, Abbi had tears streaming down her face. She remembered the flashes of images she had gotten on the side of the highway, and the searing pain through her chest. She knew now, that was the pain of Dean being stabbed and it ended as he died. It had been replaced by Sam’s overwhelming grief. As she realized all of this, she broke. She couldn’t hold it in any longer, sobs racked her body. As she slid boneless from the chair, Sam was there to catch her and ease her way to the floor.

She couldn’t breathe, it felt like there were bands across her chest restricting her breathing. There was no air in the room for her to take in even if she could breathe. And it hurt, deep down, it hurt. Her body was being torn apart from the inside, her heart was shattered into a thousand pieces…again. She had barely glued it back together, albeit with missing pieces, after her parents died, now, it was splintered beyond recognition.

It would never be put back together again. There wasn’t enough glue in the world this time. Her brother was gone. She had just found him, just accepted him, just fallen in love with him, and now…now he was brutally taken from her. She couldn’t go on. How did she go on?

Sam crooned softly to her, what he said was less important than the softness of his tone, the love that came through with every word and touch. His eyes were dry, he had cried all his tears just an hour before, this time was for Abbi.

“It will be okay, sweetheart. We will find him. We’ll get Dean back,” he assured her. He let her cry it out and when he felt her going limp in his arms. He lifted her face to look into her swollen eyes. “Come on, let’s get you off this cold floor.” He stood and helped her up.

“Sorry,” she said.

“Stop, stop right there. It’s about time you broke, it isn’t good to keep it all bottled up inside of yourself.”

Abbi nodded and turned away from him. She hated showing any type of weakness. Gathering the plates, she began cleaning up their meal. She heard Sam leaving the room and let out a deep sigh, dropping her head to her chest as tears again began to fall.

Thirty minutes later, she went into the main room, face washed and all signs she had been crying erased from her face through the careful use of makeup. “Sam, I have a question for you, something that has been bugging me.” She sat down across from him.

“Sure, what’s that?”

“You said that Cas could keep an eye on me because I wasn’t warded? Warded how?”

Sam groaned. He had hoped she wouldn’t ask this question. “Um, well, see, there are ways to keep angels from detecting you.”

“Like what? Carrying some sort of hex bag, or wearing an anti-angel charm, or something?”

“I don’t know about a charm,” Sam said, “but, a hex bag would work if you kept it on your person at all times.”

“A bit inconvenient, though,” Abbi said. “There has to be another way, something easier. I already wear an anti-possession charm.” She reached under her shirt and pulled out a necklace to show him. “I guess if I could figure out what type charm to use, I could add it to this.”

“Why? Abbi, it isn’t a bad thing that Cas can keep tabs on you. It isn’t like when Dean and I needed to be hidden from the angels and Cas helped us out. Trust me, there are times that it proves very inconvenient, for both us and Cas.”

“Wait, how did Cas _help you out_?” she asked, her interest peaked.

“He branded our ribs with Enochian symbols to ward us from all angels,” Sam answered her, offhandedly, he was looking intently at something on the computer screen.

Abbi noticed he was distracted, so she stood and went to read over his shoulder. She saw he was searching various signs of demon activity, signs like she used to search when she was searching for Azazel.

“Do you think this will help? I haven’t seen any signs like this around,” she said. “There hasn’t been any _normal_ demon activity at all,” she told him.

“You have a better idea?” Sam asked. “I’m listening.”

She sighed. “No, I don’t. Let me get my laptop, and I’ll help.” She left the room to get her laptop out of her car. By the time she returned, Sam had a mug of coffee next to him. She decided that was exactly what was needed and went to make herself a cup. She was glad he wasn’t drinking whiskey but coffee.

She barely looked up when Sam left the room. Figuring he just needed a break, she continued her search. So far, she had found nothing strange, anywhere. Her phone calls hadn’t been successful, either. While there were still demons around, it was just normal demon activity. Nothing special, and though she had put the word out she was looking for Crowley, no one had heard anything of his whereabouts.

Sam came back about fifteen minutes later and put a shot of whiskey in his mug of coffee. She made no comment. He had a more determined look on his face. When he sat up straight in his chair, she took notice.

“What is it?” she asked him.

“Drew Neely,” he said.

“What about him?” She typed the name into her search bar. When the name came up, she clicked on the news report concerning him. 'Could it be?' she thought. 'A lead finally?'

Sam was on the phone with Cas, pacing as he spoke. From what she could hear, there was something wrong. She knew Sam thought this was a lead, but Sam was now telling Cas he was mistaken and it wasn’t a lead. When Abbi looked at Sam questioningly, he held a hand up to her signaling her to be quiet.

When he hung up the phone, she looked at him for an explanation. “Cas isn’t doing too good. His Grace is failing,” he explained.

Confused even more now, Abbi said, “I don’t understand.”

“Cas had his grace stolen by Metatron. Remember, we explained that to you about when the angels fell because of the spell Metatron cast?” When she nodded, he continued, “Now, his borrowed Grace is failing. He isn’t in the best of shape. It’s best if he stays out of this and rests.”

“So, we are an angel short,” she said. “Okay, we can handle this. Where do we start?”

“I’ll head to Amherst Junction, Wisconsin, that is where they found him. You head to his hometown, see what you can dig up there,” Sam told her.

Abbi nodded and shut down her laptop. “I’ll call you when I get there.”

“Stay in touch, I mean it, Abbi, call me if anything seems out of place,” Sam said. He stood and hugged her. “We’re going to find him.”

“I know we are,” she said. “I’m just wondering what we are going to find when we do.”

“Whatever we find, Abbi, remember, it is still Dean. Somewhere in there is _still Dean_.”

She nodded. “Okay.” She left him standing there as she headed to the garage. Sam may think that Dean was still savable, but she wasn’t so sure.


	22. Protected Again and Reality Check

Abbi didn’t find anything she would have called a lead when she arrived in Ohio. But, she didn’t give up. She kept looking, if this Drew Neely had been possessed while living here, then someone had to know something. She sat in the small coffee shop and pulled up the news report again. It said he had been missing for three years after killing his wife and kids.

‘Wait,’ she thought, ‘he had been possessed three years ago?’ She slammed her computer closed, drawing looks from those closest to her. ‘He did it to her again. This was a dead end,’ she thought. Sam had sent her here to keep her out of the way, he knew she wouldn’t find anything here to help them. Growling, she opened her laptop and looked up directions for Amherst Junction, Wisconsin. She wasn’t going to let him get away with this again.

She shut her laptop down and bought a large coffee for the trip and headed out of town. If Drew Neely’s body was found in Wisconsin, then that is where she needed to be. She thought about calling Sam to tell him she was on her way but decided against it. He would only try to keep her away with some excuse.

Abbi walked into the Portage county sheriff’s station and asked for the detective in charge of the Drew Neely case. She watched as a man approached and held out his hand.

“Agent Alcott,” Abbi said. “I’m here about the Neely case.”

“Really? One of your agents was here about an hour ago,” he told her.

Abbi thought quickly. She had no doubt that agent was Sam. “Yes, I know. He sent me to look at the security footage to see if there was anything he may have missed.”

“Sure, right this way,” the Sheriff said as he turned and walked back towards a desk in the back. “Let me set it up for you.” He hit a few keys on the keyboard and motioned for her to take a seat. “I’ll leave you to review it.”

Abbi watched the video completely the first time at normal speed, then the second, she watched it slower. When she saw the black eyes, she paused the footage. She wasn’t surprised, she had expected it, but seeing it confirmed… She backed out of the file and deleted it. She wondered why Sam hadn’t done it. Perhaps he had been so stunned by what he saw, it just slipped his mind. No, that wasn’t like Sam. Why didn’t he get rid of the evidence? Something was wrong with that.

She was standing next to the desk when the Sheriff returned. He looked down at the computer screen. “Not again,” he said as he sat down quickly. He tapped the keys and groaned. “Great, just great,” he murmured.

“Is something wrong?” she asked innocently.

“The file is gone,” he looked at her. “This is the second time it has disappeared only this time, I can’t recover it like I did last time. It is the only footage we have.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “It was playing funny when I watched it. I was just coming to find you to tell you that when you came back.” The lie came easily since it meant saving her brother or whatever that thing was. She would deal with whatever that thing was.

“Did you get to see any of it?” the sheriff asked.

“Very little. But don’t worry about it. My partner saw it. I better go catch up with him,” she said. She had made a note of the address of the _gas-n-sip_ when she was sitting at the desk.

“If there is anything else either of you need,” the sheriff said.

“We’ll be sure to call,” Abbi said as she moved quickly away.

Abbi sat in her car and thought about her next move. She was at least an hour behind Sam. No doubt he went to the Gas-n-Sip where this happened. He wouldn’t still be there. She dialed his number but got no answer. She left a voicemail telling him she was in Wisconsin and to call her immediately.

She was just about to put her cell phone away when she had an idea, a number she had put in her phone, but though she had tried calling it before, never got an answer. She dialed Crowley’s number.

“Poppet, how nice to hear from you. Good thing that I got found out who this number belonged to from Dean,” he said when he answered. “Where’s Moose?”

“Where’s my brother?”

“Where’s my brother…you sound just like Moose…wait…your brother? And the plot thickens,” he said. “Dean didn’t impart that bit of information when he told me whose number this was.”

She realized too late what she said, but there was no taking back the words now. “Yeah, my brother. I don’t know what you did to him, Crowley, but mark my words, I will save Dean, and then, then I will end you. Now, where is he?”

“You Winchesters are all the same. I just went through this with Moose, why hasn’t he told you what he knows…ahhh, is he trying to keep you out of this? Yes, he is, isn’t he…the other Winchester trait, over protectiveness. Okay, if I were to guess as to where Dean is, I would say, he’s in a bar in Killdeer, North Dakota. But, hey, what do I know?”

Abbi didn’t say anything as she hung up the phone. She pulled out her GPS and punched in Killdeer. How many bars could there be in that little town?

She was passing through Beulah when she spotted the Impala at a bar. She couldn’t believe her luck, she parked and got out. Not knowing what she would find in there, she opened her trunk. She didn’t really want to shoot him, but she would do what needed to be done. She checked her clip to verify it had the special bullets carved with the demons trap on top before putting it in her waistband. Her knife went in the sleeve of her coat. She loaded a couple syringes with a mild solution of her demon mix and put them in her pocket. She wasn’t looking to seriously hurt her brother, but what was on that video footage wasn’t her brother, it was a black-eyed demon.

She pulled open the door and walked in, her eyes taking in everything at once. Dean sat at the bar drinking alone. He didn’t move as she approached.

“Go home, Abbi,” he said.

“Not without you.” She approached cautiously.

“I’m not coming with you,” he said and turned to look at her.

The black eyes were shocking and it took everything in her power not to react to them. Every instinct was screaming at her to deal with the demon in front of her, while her heart broke at the sight.

“Dean…”

He stood and came up to her. “Abbi, leave now. I won’t be responsible for what happens if you don’t. Go find Sam and leave me the hell alone.”

“No,” she said and she started to reach for her gun. If she could just shoot him and disable him.

His hand shot out so fast, she never saw it moving. His grip was tight and painful, even when she cried out in pain, he didn’t lessen it. “Leave now, Abbi. This is your last chance.” He let go of her hand even as he reached behind her to grab her gun and pull the clip from it, shoving it in his pocket.

Abbi stood where she was for a moment. “I’m not giving up on you,” she said. Deciding on a temporary retreat, she turned her back and walked out of the bar. She went to her car and was about to call Sam when he pulled into the parking lot.

She was out of the car in a flash and inside of Sam’s before he had shut off the ignition.

“Abbi! What the hell?”

“He’s not going to come willingly,” she said without preamble. She was rubbing her wrist. “We need to go in with a plan.”

Sam grabbed her wrist and looked at it. The red handprint that wrapped around it was already darkening. “Did he do this to you?” At her nod, Sam cursed. “What the hell were you thinking of going in there alone?”

When she didn’t answer, Sam continued, “You weren’t. Well, we are doing this my way now.” Sam told her his plan, he would go in. He brought handcuffs that were specially carved with anti-demonic symbols from the Bunker. She would wait out here. Once Dean was secure, he would drive him back in the Impala and she would follow in her car.

She didn’t like the plan, but Sam explained he couldn’t be worried about her when he was dealing with Dean. He needed to know she was safe so he could concentrate on Dean. She agreed, reluctantly.

When Sam went in, she got out of his car and was on the way to hers to reload the gun that Dean had emptied, when she was hit from behind. She woke in the front seat of her car to hear a fight outside. She went to get out of her car when she saw it was Dean and some other man fighting but found herself handcuffed to her steering wheel.

By the time she picked the lock on the handcuffs, the fight was over. Sam had Dean handcuffed. She walked over and looked down at Dean. He looked up at her, his eyes normal.

“Dean,” she whispered. His eyes flashed black.

Sam pulled Dean to his feet and dragged him over to the Impala. After pushing him into the backseat and securing him, he slammed the door shut and turned to her. “I have something to take care of before we head home. Follow me?” Abbi nodded and went to her car.

She followed Sam to the nearby motel. She parked behind his car and got out. Sam met her at the front of her car.

“You have to trust me on this one, okay?” he asked. Before Abbi could say anything, Crowley appeared in front of the Impala.

Abbi pulled out her knife and took at step forward. Sam shook his head and went to talk to Crowley. It was then that Abbi noticed Sam had the First Blade in his hand. She watched as Sam gave Crowley the First Blade. Listening to them, she realized Sam had agreed to give it to him for Dean’s location.  As soon as Crowley disappeared, Abbi approached on Sam.

“What the hell did you do that for? If you had only waited a few more minutes…I had already found him.”

“I didn’t know that,” Sam said.

“No, because you sent me on a wild goose chase. Again, you thought it was best if I was out of the way. Dammit, Sam, when are you going to realize I am part of all this? That we are better together?”

Sam looked into the car at Dean. “Abbi, that is our brother in there, not some black-eyed demon. I need to know you know the difference.” Sam’s tone was serious.

“I know what I see, Sam,” she said. “I see a black-eyed demon who is riding our brother. Can Dean be saved? I don’t know…I just don’t know.” She shrugged.

“We are going to try,” Sam said. “Either you are with me, or stay the hell out of the Bunker. If I can’t trust you to be with me on this, then I don’t want you there.”

His words were clear, either she did as he said and helped him to get rid of the demon riding Dean, or she could walk away. Could she just put aside her ingrained beliefs that all demons should just be killed long enough to try to save Dean? Abbi took a deep breath and looked at Dean sitting in the car. He gave her a smile, but the smile was not her brothers, it was that thing’s smile, an evil smile. It was as if he knew what was going through her mind.

“I will help you,” she said.

Sam nodded. “Then let’s get home.”


	23. Demon Be Gone But First…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the long wait for an update. I have been having Internet issues.

It took both of them to get Dean into the back room. At first, it seemed as if he would co-operate, but when it came time to actually go into the room, he tried to break free from Sam’s grasp. He hadn't counted on the fact that Abbi was right behind them and had her knife out. A small slice along his shoulder blade was enough to convince him she wouldn't hesitate to do more.

“I’ll get out of this, you know. And when I do…” His eyes turned black as he smiled that smile that wasn't her brother’s.

Once Sam had him secured in the chair, he pulled Abbi from the room, closing the door behind them. He didn't let go of her arm until they were in the main room. “Abbi, I need you to understand something before we go any further,” Sam said.

“Okay, what?” Abbi said.

“It isn't some demon riding Dean,” Sam said. “I didn't correct you before because it would have taken too long to explain. I wanted to get Dean back here and secure first.”

“What do you mean? Of course some demon is using Dean as a meatsuit,” Abbi said.

Sam shook his head. “No, Abbi. It’s the Mark. The Mark doesn't let you die. So when Dean died, the Mark brought him back but as a demon.” Sam saw the look of disbelief on Abbi’s face and then it changed to one of horror as his words sunk in.

“If he is a demon, then he is gone. There is no saving him,” she said. Abbi took a deep breath. “Sam,” she laid a hand on his arm, “I…it is better if I do it.”

“Do what? Abbi, we’re not going to kill him. We are going to save him,” Sam said.

“You can’t save him, Sam. No matter how much you want to. There is no exorcism for this. Dean is gone. It’s better not to put it off any longer.”

“The Men of Letters found a way to change a demon back to human,” Sam said. “It works. You have to trust me,” Sam said. “We are going to save Dean.”

Abbi looked doubtful but she also knew if there was any chance Dean could be saved, she didn't want to give up that opportunity, either. “Okay, we’ll try it your way, but if it doesn't work…”

“I need to go and get the blood we need.” He went over to the bookshelves and pulled out a book. Walking back, he opened it and handed it to her. “Here, this is what we will be doing. Read while I am gone. And, stay away from Dean.”

Abbi looked down at the book. “I’ll make us some coffee,” she said.

“Abbi, I mean it, stay out of that room,” Sam said. “I won’t be long.”

The first thing she did was go into the kitchen to make coffee. She carried the book with her, reading the procedure as she went through the routine motions of filling the coffee pot with water, coffee grounds and pushing the start button. While it brewed, she leaned against the counter. By the time it was done, she had read the whole thing.

‘If this works…’ she thought. ‘If it works, we could get Dean back.’ She made a mug of coffee and took it back into the library and set the book on the table.

‘Sam said don’t go in there,’ her brain told her as she walked towards the storage room and the hidden room.

‘I have to talk to him,’ she argued back. ‘I’ll be fine. He can’t hurt me.’

‘Not physically,’ the voice answered back knowingly.

She opened the door and went inside. Dean just stared at her, a smug look on his face.

“Where’s Sammy?”

“Gone for blood,” she answered. “We’re going to cure you.”

“Don’t bother,” Dean said. “I don’t want you to. I like being this way. It’s the best I've felt in a long time, so freeing. Nothing to hold me back, no guilt, no worrying about what anyone thinks, no right or wrong.”

“Whatever, Dean. You really don’t have a choice, now do you?”

“Yeah, I do. See, little sister, this,” he moved his arms, “this won’t hold me for long. I’ll get free, and when I do…”

“I just found you and Sam, and I’m not losing you, Dean.”

“What happened to the only thing a black-eyed demon was good for was killing? Funny, can’t face doing it? Too weak, _Warrior Princess_?” His eyes flashed black.

She moved closer, her knife in her hand threatening, though she didn't even remember pulling it from her waistband. “Don’t call me that. You don’t get to call me that, only my brother gets to call me that.”

“Oh, little sister, I can do whatever I want.” He waited until she turned away. “Maybe I should tell Sam why you were given away? I wonder how much he would want you around if he knew you were sent away to keep you safe, that he was kept even knowing he was at risk. Wonder how Sammy boy would like that.”

When she spun around, Dean laughed. “Oh, sensitive about that are we? But, it didn’t work did it? He found you, too. He gave you his blood just like he did with Sam. So want to change me, but what about you? You have demon blood in you, so what does that make you?”

Abbi knew he was just trying to hurt her so she did her best not to respond. “There is a difference here, Dean. My eyes aren't black. I’m not a demon. But…you won’t be for long, either.”

“We’ll see about that.” Dean said.

“Yeah, we will. I am betting on us, Dean. I told you, I just found my brothers, and I’ll be damned if I am going to lose one of them.”

“Damned is what you are then, Abbi.”

She turned and walked out of the room. Once back in the library, she gave into the shaking and tears. ‘I’m going to have to kill my brother,’ she thought. She brushed impatiently at the tears, she couldn't let Sam see them. She hoped Sam’s plan would work, but if it didn't…

She decided to jump in the shower while she waited for Sam to come back. A quick shower would wake her up for the long night she knew would be ahead of them. She found Sam in the kitchen when she came out.

“Hey, when did you get back?” she asked.

“A little bit ago,” he said. “I already got started. Abbi, for now, maybe it’s best if you stay out of there while I am giving Dean these shots.”

“Sam, no way in hell,” she said. “I can’t. I need to be there with you.”

“Abbi, please,” Sam begged.

She shook her head. “I’ll give him the next shot.” She turned and walked away.

“Oh, you’re back,” Dean said. “What, too much for Sammy? He had to send in the girl?”

“I volunteered.” She walked over with the filled syringe. “I’m guessing this will hurt,” she said. “Can’t say I’m sorry, Dean. We both know I have no sympathy for demons.” She plunged the blood into his arm and then calmly walked away. As she left the room, Dean was still screaming.

They alternated going in for the next few shots. It was Abbi’s turn when Dean turned particularly nasty.

“Abbi, the unwanted, given away because she wasn't wanted, she was an inconvenience, come to torture me some more? Go ahead, bitch, do your worst,”

She tried not to take the bait. “Go ahead, fight it all you want. Doesn't matter, it is still going to happen.”

“You know, are you going to have the guts to kill me when this doesn't work? Can you do it? Tell me, sister dear, how many demons bit it while you were looking for me? I’m thinking you did some pretty bad things while searching for me. After all, I saw a preview of what you are capable of right here in this room, and you know what? It was hot!”

She really tried not to let him get to her, it lasted about thirty seconds. She wasn't gentle when she gave him the injection. Immediately, she went over, refilled the syringe, and turned back to him. Pain was etched across his face and her steps faltered.

“What’s wrong, little sis? Oh wait, should I even be calling you that? Do we really even know that story you told us is true? Maybe you’re not our sister, maybe you’re not a Winchester. Maybe you are just some freak who decided to latch on to us and pretend because you got your parents killed and wanted a family.”

The needle fell from her hand and her knife was out. She lunged at him but an arm around her waist pulled her back. She was kicking out and swinging at whomever it was that stopped her.

“Abbi, stop,” Sam’s said. “Abbi, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

“Oh Abbi, stop before you hurt yourself,” Dean mocked Sam. “We wouldn't want that. After all, you are a fragile little thing.”

Sam dragged her forcibly from the room and slammed the door even as Dean’s taunts continued. He didn't let her go until he pushed her into a seat at the table in the main room. “That’s it,” he said. “You’re out. No more. I want you to stay out of that room. He knows he can get to you. Don’t you see, it is what he wants. He wants you to come at him with the knife so he can get it away from you. Abbi, you can’t go near him anymore.”

Abbi looked at Sam as the realization of what he was saying sunk in. He was right and she knew it. “How much longer?”

“It shouldn't take much more,” Sam said. “Cass is on his way, he can take over for you. Don’t worry, you just hang out here. We will handle it.”

“I can’t just sit here and do nothing,” she said. “Cass is coming, you’re sure?” she asked.

Sam nodded. “He’s on his way. Should be here soon.”

“Then I’m going to the store. Sam, wait for Cass before you go back in there. He’s…just wait for him, okay?”

“Go to the store, Abbi. This should all be over when you get back. Dean will be Dean again. You’ll see.”

She hesitated, instinct told her to wait for Cass to show up, but she had to get out of here. Dean was trapped and she knew without a shadow of a doubt, Sam would never turn him loose. Sam wouldn't be that stupid.

“Okay, I’m going. But I won’t be long. I will be back as quick as I can. I am just going to the little grocery store two towns over. I’ll stop and get some beer for Dean while I’m out.”

Sam smiled. “Sure, sounds good.”

Abbi still wasn't sure she was making the right decision even as she drove out of the Bunker, but she also knew she needed to get away from Dean for a while. If she didn't…if she didn't, she wasn't sure what may happen.

It took longer than she had expected due to the fact she had a flat tire when she came out of the store. Cursing every second as she changed it, she couldn't help but feel there was something wrong back home.

She forgot the beer. She didn't think about it until she was grabbing the bags out of the trunk of the car and hurrying into the Bunker. The overwhelming sense something was wrong had grown to immense proportions and she felt a panic attack coming on. There was no one around so she dropped the bags in the kitchen and headed straight back to the dungeon.

As she was rushing down the hall, Sam, Cass and Dean came walking out of the store room. They were all smiling. She skidded to a stop.

“Abbi,” Dean whispered and took a step forward.

She backed up a step then stopped and looked at him when he also stopped. Staring at him, she saw the difference, she felt the difference. She raced to him and threw her arms around him, tears streaming down her face. He stumbled back a step but recovered quickly and wrapped her in his arms.

“Hush, hush, Princess. I’m okay,” he said.

She sensed Sam and Cass walking away, but she didn't care. Dean was alive and he was Dean again. Twenty-four hours ago, she accepted the very real possibility she would have to kill him, now here he was holding her and he was okay.

“I forgot your beer,” she murmured against his shoulder.

“What?” he said confused.

She leaned back. “I…I went to the store and I forgot to get your beer. We don’t have any.”

“It’s okay. We’ll send Sammy for some.” He smiled at her and it was Dean’s smile on Dean’s face.

“Dean, please don’t take this the wrong way,” she said hesitantly.

“What?”

“Well…I’m thrilled you are you and all, but you stink.”

He burst out laughing. “Guess I need a shower then, huh?”

She nodded. “Guess so.” She walked with him towards his room, leaving him at the door, she went to her own room and closing the door, fell on her bed and all of the emotions of the past month and a half took over and she wept tears of regret, of happiness, and of fear her brothers would find out everything she did to find Dean. She cried because she forgot the damn beer.  

    

    


	24. Angel Request and a Ghost to Deal With

Abbi didn’t know how long she spent in her room, but she didn’t hear the shower running anymore. She got up, washed her face, and grabbed her handy bottle of eye drops to try to hide her bloodshot eyes.

She found Cass sitting in at the table in the main room, neither Dean or Sam were there. “Where’s Sam? And where is Dean?” she asked.

“Sam went to get some greasy food for Dean, and Dean is in his room resting,” Cass told her.

“Cass, can I ask you a couple favors?” she said. “I know you don’t owe me anything and honestly, you really have no reason to help me out, but…”

“What do you need, Abbi?”

She held out her wrist to show him the black and blue bruises. It was clear someone’s hand had done this. “Dean did this, didn’t he?” Cass took her wrist in his hand. She saw the light and felt the warmth of his touch. When he released her wrist, it was clear of the bruise.

“He wasn’t himself when he did it,” she answered him as she flexed her wrist. “I just didn’t want him seeing it.”

“And the other favor?” Cass asked.

“Sam said you warded them from detection from angels, can you do the same for me?”

“I do not think that would be a good idea, Abbi. There was a good reason at the time, I did that for them. I am just not sure in this case it is needed,” Cass told her. “Talk it over with Sam and Dean, if they agree to it, then, of course, I will do it.”

She sighed. Her brothers would never agree to it. It was easier this way to find her with angel radar if she left the Bunker, having her warded would prevent that. She heard Sam coming in and turned to look at him. She smiled when she saw the six packs, one tucked under his arm that was holding the bag of fast food, and the other was held in his other hand. She stood and went over to help him.

“You remembered the beer,” she said. “Thank you, I can’t believe I forgot. I just had a feeling something was really wrong and rushed back here.”

She saw the look that passed between Sam and Cass and knew she had been right, there had been something wrong while she was gone. “What happened?” she asked.

“Let it be for now. I’ll tell you later,” Sam said as he saw Dean coming into the room. “Just in time, food’s hot and beer’s cold.”

“I’ll take both,” he said and sat down at the table.

Cass told them he had to go, he had some things to take care of but he would be in touch soon. After thanking him, they watched him leave.

While Sam passed out the food and beer, Abbi studied Dean. He looked okay, a bit tired, but other than that, he looked like her brother. She wondered about the Mark, he still had it. Was it going to be a problem? She shook herself that was an issue for another day, tonight she had her brother back that was all that mattered.

Talk was light and didn’t venture upon anything serious. They stuck with funny stories of younger days when they were growing up. It struck her again, how different their lives had been. She wondered, not for the first time, what it would have been like to grow up on the road with them, with John as a father.

“Abbi, is everything okay?” Sam asked, noticing her distraction.

“I was just thinking,” she started, “thinking about what it would have been like to be raised on the road with you, with John.”

They both looked shocked as if the thought had never occurred to them. In truth, the very idea was appalling to them.

“Abbi, I can’t imagine it,” said Sam finally. “I wonder if Dad would have…”

“We’ll never know, Sam. No use trying to figure it out,” Dean said. “It happened the way it did, and we deal with what is now.”

Abbi was quiet for a few minutes. It was time to tell them the decision she had made while she searched for Dean. “Guys, there’s something I want to tell you,” she said, her voice hesitant.

“Abbi, you can tell us anything,” Sam said.

“I made a decision over the past six weeks while traveling around,” she said. “I realized that…I realized I am a Winchester. I’m going to change my name.” She looked at them and rushed on, “That is if it is okay with the both of you.”

Silence…dead silence met her statement. Blank faces and dead silence. Then at the same time, both of her brothers stood and came over to her and pulled her up out of her chair. She found herself embraced in the middle of the two of them.

“It’s about damn time,” Dean said.

“Dean…”

“I know, Sammy, it had to be her choice, but, hell, it took long enough,” Dean said and he smiled.

The sound of breaking dishes had them all jumping apart. They rushed into the kitchen to stare at the shelves where moments before plates had sat, plates that were now just broken pieces on the floor. There in front of the shelves stood the ghost of Abbi’s father.

“Daddy,” Abbi whispered as she started forward.

Both Sam and Dean grabbed her by the arms to stop her. “No, Abbi,” said Sam.

“You are a Campbell,” said her father. “You are not a Winchester.”

“Daddy, I am a Winchester. I will always be your daughter, but I am also Mary and John’s daughter.” Tears formed in her eyes.

“You don’t belong here, Abbi girl. You are going to get hurt, again, if you stay here. Leave now, while you can.”

“No, Daddy. I’m sorry if this upsets you. But, these are my brothers and I am staying here, with them. With my family,” she said, pleading with him to understand.

“I gave you everything and this is how you repay me? With disobedience? With them? They are not your family, Abigail! They will cause you nothing but pain. You are in danger from them as surely as if you were in a house of demons or a nest of vampires. Leave now, Abigail Grace! While you still can.” With his warning repeated, her father vanished.

Abbi legs gave out on her, if Sam and Dean hadn’t still been holding on to her arms, she would have fallen to the floor. They helped her to a chair. Dean left briefly and returned with a glass containing a shot of whiskey.

“Drink,” he ordered as he set it in front of her. She obeyed without hesitation.

“I…he…” She didn’t know what to say. Tears streamed down her face. “That wasn’t my father. I mean, it was, but it wasn’t.”

“It’s okay, Abbi. He’s gone for now,” Sam said.

“But he’ll be back,” Dean said. “Abbi, we have to decide what to do about him. He is going vengeful.”

Abbi looked shocked at this statement from Dean. “Vengeful?”

“Abbi, ghosts, spirits, they aren’t meant to hang around. After a while, they turn, they go crazy.” The soft tone of Sam’s voice was meant to be reassuring. “You said that he wasn’t your dad, I’m guessing you meant your dad wouldn’t have acted like that, right?”

Abbi shook her head. “No, I mean, when I found out about my adoption, we talked about my finding you both. They weren’t happy about it, but they left it up to me if I wanted to. Had I chosen to look for you, they would have helped me. They would have stood by any relationship I chose to have with you.”

“Even if you chose to change your name to Winchester?” Dean asked.

Abbi thought about it for a minute before answering, “Yeah, even that. It would have hurt them, but they would have understood.”

The sound of more dishes breaking had Abbi sighing. “Dad, cut it out,” she said. “You made your point.” She looked at her brothers and nodded. “Okay, let’s get this over with before we don’t have any dishes left. I’ll go get his wallet.”

“I’ll get it,” Dean said. He never told her he had taken it from her room. He was surprised she had never noticed it missing. He returned a few minutes later and handed it to her.

“We need some salt and a lighter,” Abbi said as she rubbed her fingers over the soft brown leather of the wallet.

Sam stood and walked out of the room, only to come back a couple minutes later with the requested items and some newspaper. “I think the sink will work.”

Abbi nodded as she stood and walked over to the sink. She placed the wallet in the sink on top of the newspapers and poured the salt Sam handed her over it. “Daddy, I love you, but you need to go and be with Mom now.” She lit a match and dropped it onto the wallet and watched as it burned. When there were only ashes in the sink, Sam pulled her away.

“Come on,” he said, “let’s go watch some tv in my room.”

She just nodded and let herself be led away, never noticing Dean cleaning up the mess of broken dishes from the kitchen floor.

She didn’t know how long they had alone before Dean came in, so as soon as they settled on Sam’s bed, Abbi asked, “What happened while I was at the store?”

“Dean broke free of his restraints,” Sam said.

Abbi gasped. “How? You said those restraints would hold and he was in a devil’s trap.”

“The blood, human blood. It diluted the demon blood just enough for him to break free. He crossed the devil’s trap with some pain, but he still managed it.” Sam hesitated for a minute before continuing, “I didn’t lock the door when I left the last time. I wasn’t thinking, after all, he was secure, or so I thought.”

“Sam, you didn’t know,” Abbi said. “So what happened?”

“Let’s just say we need to replace the door to the electronics room and Cass, well Cass saved me from having to kill my brother.”

Abbi put her arms around Sam and pulled him into a hug. “You wouldn’t have killed him, Sam. You would have gotten him back into the room again.”

Sam shook his head. “No, Abbi. It was him or me at that point, one of us was going to die.”

Abbi shuddered. “I knew I shouldn’t have left, at least, not until Cass got here.”

“Abbi, it wouldn’t have made a difference. He would’ve used you to get to me. He would have hurt you as easily as he planned on hurting, no killing me. What came out of that room, it wasn’t Dean. To survive, to stay alive, a choice would have been made, and I fear one of the three of us wouldn’t have survived had you been here.”

Abbi rested her head on his shoulder. “You don’t know that, we’ll never know.”

“We don’t have to think about that anymore. Dean is Dean again. Let’s just be thankful for that. What happened over the past couple months can be forgotten, agreed?”

“Agreed,” Abbi said.

“What are we agreeing to?” asked Dean as he strode into the room.

“To forget the past couple months,” Sam said.

Abbi saw something flash in Dean’s eyes before he said, “I can live with that. Now, what are we going to watch?” He pulled his hand out from behind his back and in it was a bowl of popcorn. “I brought the popcorn, but I couldn’t carry the beer. Sammy, go fetch some, will ya?”

“Sure,” Sam said as he stood.

Dean sat down next to Abbi. “Abbi, I’m sor—”

“Dean, don’t. It wasn’t you. I know it wasn’t,” she said. “Let’s just go with Sam’s plan and forget it, k?”

Dean nodded. “Let me see your wrist,” he said as he grabbed her arm. He examined it then asked, “Cass?”

She nodded. “I thought it best.” When he opened his mouth, she put a finger over it. “No, shut up, Dean. Clean slate, remember?”

Sam came in with the beers and passed them out. “So, what are we going to watch?” he asked as he climbed into bed on the other side of Abbi.


	25. Trying to Find the New Normal

Over the next week, it seemed to Abbi as if every one of them was walking on eggshells around each other. Although they had decided to forget the past couple months, it became clear to Abbi it may not be the best idea. She didn’t want to discuss what she did to find Dean and she sensed Sam didn’t either. She was betting Dean had no desire to rehash his time as a demon. So, rather than accidentally say something wrong, they were all being so overly cautious it was as if they barely knew each other.

She missed the easy way they had been with each other before, the teasing and normal brother-sister behavior. There was not a single even comment when she grabbed the hot pan without the benefit of a hot pad and burned her fingers. If this continued much longer, she was going to go crazy. She was sitting at the kitchen table drinking her coffee when Sam came in. Her laptop was open and she was reading over news reports from around the country.

“Anything interesting?” Sam asked as he peered over her shoulder.

“Not much. Strange, but it is pretty quiet out there,” she said. “A couple of strange deaths in a hotel in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It might be something since they were found impaled on the ceiling,” she said.

“Only those two deaths there?”

“Yeah. Can’t find any others anywhere else, yet,” she said. “I’ll keep looking.”

Sam nodded. “If you find anything, tell just me, k?”

“Dean’s not ready to hunt, yet?”

“I’m thinking another couple weeks off won’t hurt him,” Sam said.

“Sam, I understand, honestly, I do, but do you really think hanging around here is the best thing for him? He hasn’t been out of the Bunker since…well, you know. And let’s face it, we are all just tiptoeing around each other. Everyone is being so damn polite it is driving me crazy.”

“Abbi, it is going to take time for things to get back to the way they were,” Sam said.

Abbi didn’t answer him instead she just shrugged her shoulders.    

“Abbi, please,” Sam said.

“Whatever you want, Sam. I just know I am going stir-crazy here, and I’m betting Dean is too,” Abbi said.

“He can’t hunt,” Sam said.

“Okay, what about just a trip somewhere? I don’t know, let’s just get in the car and drive,” she suggested. “Head west until we reach the ocean, stay a few days then head back. If we stay off the internet and away from the papers, should be safe enough.”

“Did someone say something about a trip?” Dean said as he came into the kitchen. “I’m all for that. If I have to stare at these walls for another day, I’m going to go out of my mind.”

“A family vacation? Should be fun,” Abbi said. “Whatcha say Sam?”

“Sounds good,” he said reluctantly.

“Great! I’ll be ready to go in a half hour,” Abbi said as she stood up and rushed from the room, the sound of her brothers’ laughter followed her down the hall.

It was forty-five minutes later when she came into the main room of the Bunker carrying her duffle bag. She dropped it on the table and sighed. “Change of plans,” she said. “I just got a call from Jake. He needs my help with…with Mick, so I am heading to Cali to help him out. It should only take a few days so I’ll meet you wherever you end up, k?”

The looks on her brothers’ faces told Abbi they knew she was lying. She only hoped they would just let it go. If she told them she was going on a vamp hunt, they would insist on coming with her, and she didn’t want Dean in that position. She agreed with Sam, it was too soon.

“You’ll call when you get there?” Sam asked.

“Of course,” she said. “And I’ll check in every night if you want.” She went over to Dean and hugged him. “Have a good time with Sam. You both need some time together,” she said. “Maybe Jake’s call was for the best.”

“Abbi—”

“Dean, we’ll have our time. Right now, spend some time with Sam. I’ll catch up with you.” She smiled at him and kissed him on the cheek. “Oh, and since the one thing I regretted not saying when I thought…well, anyway, I love you.” She gave him another quick hug and pulled away. She turned away from him and started towards the table.  

Sam had picked up her bag while she was with Dean. “I’ll walk you to the garage,” he said.

Abbi nodded and followed behind him. Once in the garage, she opened her car door, took the bag from Sam, and threw it in the backseat. She reached out to hug him but he stopped her.

“What are you hunting?” he asked without preamble.

“Vamps,” she said. “Mick is still laid up and Jake doesn’t want to go out alone.”

“You’ll be careful?”

“Always,” she said as Sam drew her into his arms. “Call when you get there, and when it’s over.”

“I will and Sam?”

“Yeah?”

“I love you,” she said as she climbed in her car and closed the door.

Sam opened the door and leaned down. “I love you, too. And so does Dean, even if he won’t admit it. So, you best be careful out there.”

“I will. Hunting vamps is one of the things I am best at,” she said smiling.

Sam closed the door and watched as she drove out of the Bunker. She had pulled her hair up when she was in her room, so she was able to enjoy the top down and the sun shine. She turned up the radio and drove out of town.

Abbi checked in with her brothers each night. When the job was finished she called Sam to let him know and to let him know she was safe.

“Jobs done,” she said when he answered the phone.

“Um hmm,” he said.

“Dean’s close, isn’t he?”

“Yep, so how’s Mick?”

“We’re all fine. I was thinking about spending a few days here with them.”

“Sure, we’re just chilling up here,” Sam said.

“Where you at?” she asked.

“Durham, Washington sitting by the water,” he said. “Just chilling with the cooler full of beers.” She heard Dean say something in the background but couldn’t quite make out what it was. “Dean said you are missing all the hot guys.”

She laughed. “Tell him all I have to do is go to the beach here for all the hot guys I could possibly want. Speaking of which…that may not be such a bad idea.”

She didn’t realize Sam had put her on speakerphone until she heard Dean as clear as day. “Abigail Grace Winchester, do I need to come down there? Cause I will, mark my words, if a single beach bum lays a single finger on my sister—”

She heard a grunt of pain as Dean’s voice was cut off. She was momentarily speechless not so much by his threat, but by him using the name Winchester. She had yet to even begin the process of changing her last name.

“Abbi, Abbi, are you still there?” Sam asked when she didn’t respond.

“I’m here. Just trying to figure out how to respond to what Dean just said,” she answered. “I am thinking I am in too good of a mood right now to fight, and besides it is no fun fighting over the phone anyway. Listen, I’ll call you guys in a couple days to see what’s going on. Let me know when you are leaving there and where you are headed, k?”

“Will do,” Sam said.

Abbi hung up the phone and smiled. She knew the boys needed some brother time, so she would let them have it while she spent some quality time with her friends. If for some strange reason, they needed her, she was close enough to be there quickly.

Abbi saw her Uncle Earl while she was there as well as some other hunters she was acquainted with and a week soon turned into two. It was early one morning when she called Sam to find out they were in Flint, Michigan working a case.

“Wait, a case? What about Dean?” she asked concerned.

“Abbi, he seems okay. We handled that werewolf case when we were in Durham—”

“WHAT!” she yelled.

“Oh, sorry, thought I told you about that. It wasn’t anything big, he was okay with it. He needs to hunt, Abbi. I’ll watch him, honest.”

“I’m leaving now. I’ll meet you there. It isn’t that I don’t trust you, Sam, but two of us are better than just one,” she said.

“Abbi, there is no need. We got this.”

“I’m on my way. Text me the details and where to find you. I’ll see you soon.” She hung up the phone and went to find Jake and Mick to tell them she was leaving.

She pulled into the school parking lot and found it full of cars. The banner over the doors advertised the school play:

_SUPERNATURAL The Musical_

She did a double take. Sam had told her about the books by Carver Edlund. She had found them online and was currently reading them. She knew they were factual accounts of the boys lives, which made reading them that much harder. It also helped her to understand her brothers better.

The play had started so she slipped in and found an empty seat in the back of the room. When she saw the scarecrow on the stage, she started to rise and a hand on her arm stopped her.

“No, Abbi, they don’t need you this time,” the man said.

She was so shocked by this stranger knowing her name, she sank back into her seat to watch the action unfold. When the scarecrow exploded, she clapped as loud as anyone. When the curtain closed for intermission, she again started to rise to again be stopped by the man.

“Please stay. I would like to talk to you,” he said.

“Who are you? And how do you know me?” she asked.

“I saved this seat for you. I knew you were coming,” he said. “But that doesn’t answer your question. My name is Chuck, but perhaps that name—”

“Chuck? As in the real writer of those books?” she asked.

He nodded. “I can see the boys have told you about them. Of course they have, and you’ve read them. Tell me, have they helped you to understand them any better?”

“A little. But, if you know so much about them, then what about me? Why…”

“Why did I never tell them about you?” he asked. “It is simple, really. You had a family and were happy. And the time wasn’t right. All things must happen in their own time. You came into their lives when you were supposed to.”

“They said you are a prophet that you know things are going to happen before they do. Do you know what we should do about the Mark?”

“You must figure that out. I have no idea what is going to happen with that, yet,” he said.

They sat in silence and watched the rest of the show. As the last song was ending, Chuck turned to Abbi. “I need to ask you a favor.”

“Okay,” Abbi said.

“Don’t tell Dean and Sam you saw me. It is better if they don’t know. Before you ask, I have my reasons for this.” He looked at her and then added, “Don’t worry, we may just see each other again.”

Abbi nodded her agreement. “I need to go and catch up with them. It was nice to meet you. Though I don’t understand why you don’t want them to know you are here, I won’t say anything.” She smiled and walked away to go and find her brothers backstage.


End file.
